Watch Your Back
by SparrowBones
Summary: Teddy think she's gone through the worst when she lost her husband and got exiled to an unknown place by someone who was once her best friend. But what happens when she returns home? Could life have something even worse in store for her? A collaboration between SparrowBones and KimRaverFan.
1. Walking Wounded

**Chapter: **1\. Walking Wounded

**Author: **SparrowBones

**A/N: **Hey, Sparrow here! This is the beginning of a collaborative fic KimRaverFan and I are doing together. We're both super pumped to be writing this. :D

**Disclaimer: **We own nothing. If we did, Teddy would be back (or at least mentioned) for more than a second this season.

* * *

_noun_

**walking wounded**

1\. people who have been injured in a battle or major accident but who are still able to walk.

* * *

Her bones dug into the floorboards. Her flesh bruised against them and still she stayed there. She couldn't move, she couldn't feel, she couldn't think past her numb terror.

The thrum of her heart was grinding through her rib cage from the inside out. She could hear it resound within her skull, and it was strange – blood to warm her was now becoming ice in her veins, making her a statue.

Their lives were intertwined – with him gone, she too was cut loose.

Free falling.

She prayed and prayed for the monsters not to come for her as the evening ticked away into night.

* * *

Teddy stared blankly at the rivulets of condensation carving rivers down the green of the bottle-glass. The conversations of a hundred lives filtered through her ears and out again, everything heard and nothing retained. It pained her too much to wonder at the life she could have had but lost.

This life was a solitary one. The vacant bar stool and the empty apartment she'd return to night after night stood for that. The value of the people around her had dimmed, so much so that she barely ever talked anymore – questions were asked and answered, but nothing more than that.

"Chin up, chickie." A voice behind her jerked her out of her reverie. "Why do you look so blue?"

The voice belonged to a man with eyes like embodied electricity. Teddy's brow furrowed, startled.

The man prompted her when a few more seconds didn't yield a reply. "So… you gonna answer my question or not?"

Teddy didn't know what to say so she turned away, half embarrassed and half bewildered. It had been a while since anyone had talked to instead of at her. She tried not to make eye contact; maybe he'd leave if she ignored him long enough.

"Hey, that's not nice," he teased, either oblivious or uncaring of her attitude.

"Sorry." Teddy's lips parted at long last, just a whisper. She couldn't help it.

"Aw, it's fine, sweetheart. What's your name? I'm Frankie. Frankie Mala."

"My name's Teddy."

"Cute. So, Teddy -" Her name rolled off his tongue like a sip of wine in the mouth of a wine-taster. "-would you like something to drink?"

She was fully prepared to decline, but the _no thank you _morphed into a _yes _without her even realizing. Eyes wide in confusion, Teddy ducked her head and let her blond tresses fall like a veil in front of her face. This man, so forward and confident, so much unlike… unlike _him _(Teddy couldn't think Henry's name without the pain of abandonment), obviously out to get her – why wasn't she cutting him off? Why was she leading him on?

"Alright. Another drink for this pretty lady!" Frankie called over the counter, slapping a few notes down.

"Thank you." What else could she say?

"My pleasure. But now you owe me. Won't you answer my first question?"

She squirmed internally at his vigilance, biting her lip.

"You don't say much," Frankie mused. "Why?"

"I don't have much to say," Teddy confessed.

"I don't believe that for a minute."

He'd hit the nail right on the head. The thoughts in Teddy's head were louder than ever, accumulating from months of isolation. Henry was the only person she wanted to tell about her day, about her troubles and worries, and she was safe in the knowledge that he'd always chase them away. Him and no one else.

But what if? What if this man – this stranger – would do? A substitute, which would in no way measure up to her Henry – would he be able to do the half-assed job that could catch her in her downward spiral?

At least this guy Frankie cared, it seemed. Not many would have walked up to a crazy-eyed catatonic girl in a bar and tried to wake her up.

"Tell you what – you don't have to say anything, but you have to tell me if I guess right about you. Deal?" Frankie claimed the empty stool.

Teddy gave him a small smile in reply.

"Okay… hmm. I'd say you had a decent job, right? And that you're not from around here. You have that kind of 'lost sheep' vibe about you – no offense, hun."

"None taken."

"You're from the city, am I right? Someplace far away?"

"So far, yes, you're right," Teddy said amusedly.

Frankie pushed the drink across to Teddy as it appeared in front of him. Picking up his own, he lifted it invitingly. "Cheers, Teddy. Hey, I'm curious, what's that stand for? It's a hell of an adorable nickname."

At this, Teddy gave a bubbling laugh. It was a pitiful tribute to the laughs Henry could always coax out of her, but she loved the way it felt. It seemed to thaw her frigid veins – but only just a little. "I wouldn't answer that if you begged."

"The only Teddy I know is Roosevelt. Theodore? What's the chick version of that… Theodora!"

"Oh, my god," Teddy buried her smile in her hands.

"Bullseye, huh?"

"You're a smart guy."

"I've only just gotten started."

Frankie's smile was sweet as he placed his elbows on the counter. He seemed to be thinking hard as he surveyed Teddy's every movement unrestrainedly.

At last, he spoke. His voice bordered on a wistful sigh. "You're lonely."

It was blunt, direct, and too close to the truth for Teddy's liking.

In the next moment, his face lit up with a smile. "But that's okay – I can fix that."

"Mmm." Teddy spun her bottle-cap instead of dwelling too hard on his perceptions. _Is it that obvious? _Hearing the words spoken aloud had taken Teddy aback and she lapsed back into silence. She didn't want it to be true, those words. _You're lonely. _Would she be lonely forever?

"I was right again, wasn't I?"

A minute passed in a silence not altogether uncomfortable. And then…

"You're so sad," Frankie whispered. "I'd bet some horrible things have happened to you, but that's just made you strong. I have you pegged as a fighter."

He leaned an inch closer. And another.

Teddy trembled as his hand found her jawline; she felt the caress of a fingertip trace a path along her skin. Every cell in her body screamed _stop! _Everything that was happening went against what she believed in the most violating way, but she didn't say it. She didn't pull away. And suddenly she found herself wishing far harder than before that she'd never have to spend another lonely night dancing with only her shadow.

"So… did I guess right?"

* * *

Teddy's eyes opened to the dark of the night. She could never sleep anymore. Never felt safe in any arms but Henry's.

But this time she could hear two sets of breaths. Hers and Frankie's. It was so wrong, this remedy to her abandonment. He'd wanted her, and she hadn't wanted him – yet, the paralyzing terror of being alone had her clinging on. Not her bed. His.

Teddy missed Henry more than ever with Frankie there. Every thought, every wish was a comparison between the person who'd taken the key to her heart with him to the grave, and the person who'd been her salve, her shield in all this mess.

She knew who she'd choose. _Of course _she knew.

She hadn't told Frankie a thing about her life passed. It seemed like a betrayal of the worst sort for names to fall from her lips and get picked up by the ears of this man. Somehow, she didn't want him to know about Henry, though she wore his ring day in and day out on the cord hanging around her neck. Henry was wholly _hers_; confiding, uttering his name to a man other than him seemed like a surrender rooted in the vilest of cowardice.

But Teddy didn't know if she was strong enough. And that's why she was where she was, in bed with Frankie, scared of the dark, scared of the shadows like the grip of the past, scared that this newfound companionship wouldn't last though she'd sworn she'd end it.

The taste in her mouth was nothing short of guilty disgust.

* * *

**Yup, basically an introductory chapter. What do you think of it so far? Review, please!**


	2. Narrow Escape

**Chapter: **2\. Narrow Escape

**Author: **KimRaverFan

**A/N: **Thank you for reading our first chapter, now the second is up and I hope you'll like it as well.

**Disclaimer: **Again, we own nothing. Shonda does. *cries internally*

* * *

_noun_

**_narrow escape_**

1\. close call. something achieved (or escaped) by a narrow margin.

* * *

Teddy would never forget Henry because he would always be the love of her life. That being said, she had moved on; moved on to her new life – her new life in MEDCOM and her new life with Frankie, whom she loved. He kept her out the shadows where her sorrow lived.

When she and Frankie had started dating, she had been scared to love again, scared of losing again, but somehow Frankie had found a way past that. He'd made her… content with life, so that was a start, right? She knew that happiness would never be her friend again and she had accepted that. She had accepted her future with Frankie and was content with that.

* * *

They had been together for almost 2 years before he changed. He lost his job as a contractor, and she could feel that the fact that she had a high-profile job irritated him; now, he was nothing. But she didn't think it would be a problem, though, because it sure wasn't for her.

In the beginning, he could pick a fight over the food she had made them for dinner. When their love had been new and fragile, he had praised her food – sometimes so much so that she almost cried, because the last person to love her food was Henry. But now, Frankie would yell at her because the pasta was overdone…

For a whole month, they'd either argued or didn't speak at all. All of a sudden, MEDCOM became her safe place, though she had never really loved it. Every time she was on her way home, she had this knot in her stomach because all she could do was wonder - would the evening end in a fight or a terrible silence? Frankie's mood was exhausting and she was worried about him. She had tried to convince to him to get a job, but he had gotten mad at her instead – she shouldn't be so smug, he told her.

After that long month, he took it to a completely other level. When they had a fight, he would throw things and she could see that he actually wanted to hit her and punish her – she could see the hate in his eyes. She was afraid of him, but she also understood him. When they'd started dating, she had been the weak one and he the one with success in life. Now it was the other way around. He was a male chauvinist and she was now the old, independent Teddy; well almost, and she could see that he felt inadequate. That was why she hadn't left him right away – she wanted to help him the way he helped her when she was down in a black hole. She tried to talk some sense into him – she should be careful, he told her.

Every day it had escalated more and more, little by little. But that evening in September, everything changed radically. She was home alone that night and it was nicely quiet. Though it was just the silence before the storm… Frankie had been out with some friends, which she had thought was good for him, but he came home around midnight, drunk.

She was asleep when he came home and she hadn't heard a thing. What woke her up was the feeling of someone looking at her. Frankie was standing in the dark looking at her and smelling like a bar.

"Hi sweetie, was it a great night with your friend?" She asked tired.

He didn't answer her though; he just kept looking at her like he thought about what to do with her.

"You're scaring me, are you okay, Frankie"? She asked, and tried to sound normal.

Still no answer but this time she got a response, like he had figured out what to do – he got the hate back in his eyes and before she could do anything he had tugged her hard and violently out of the bed. He dragged her into the living room and deposited her on the floor.

She had been scared in Iraq, she had been scared when there was a gunman on the loose, she had been scared when Henry died, but she had never been this scared because for the first time she didn't know if she would make it.

He bent over her and looked her in the eyes. Then he started laughing which made her shiver even more.

"You little bitch! I helped you, I did everything for you, I put you back together and now, now you make me feel like this! I am nothing compared to you and I want to hurt you and make you suffer!" He yelled at her and slapped her on the face.

She had no idea how to react. Her cheek was hurting like hell and she was scared so all she wanted was to run and cry. A little place in her brain told her to fight him back – she had been in the army, for crying out loud. But she couldn't do anything, she couldn't move, she couldn't talk. All she could do was sit on the floor, shivering, with her boyfriend bent over her with a crazy look in his eyes. She couldn't even recognize the sweet man she met few years back.

After the slap it was like it clicked even more for him because he stood up and started to kick her hard several times in the stomach. She was almost about to pass out from pain when he hit her hard in the face – he would kill her, he told her.

* * *

She opened her eyes, it was dark and her body was hurting and shaking. At first she couldn't remember what had happened but then it all came back. She started to cry – she had lost her lovely content life, she had lost everything again. She was alone, scared and she had thought she would die tonight but apparently Frankie had changed his mind. She tried to get up because she wanted to get away from this apartment. Third time she succeeded and while she packed her stuff she prayed that Frankie wasn't hiding somewhere in the dark.

She got out on the street and ran, she had no idea where she was going, but she needed to get away from everything. She needed to go to a place where she, for a moment, had been safe and happy.


	3. Fly The Coop

**Chapter:** 3\. Fly the Coop

**Author:** SparrowBones

**A/N: **Third installment in this fic. Keep reviewing!

**Disclaimer: **All the characters belong to Shonda. Don't get me wrong – I'm not bitter at all.

* * *

_informal_

**_fly the coop_**

1\. make one's escape

* * *

Teddy couldn't remember ever feeling this cold. In her haste to take flight, she hadn't taken into consideration anything as trivial as the weather. But it wasn't just the rain – it was the fear that chilled her right to the bone.

The ripped collar of her shirt flapped in the icy wind, and Teddy had to hitch it up every couple steps. The rucksack she dragged along behind her thumped against the pavement, and she couldn't stop looking back.

Where was he? Where was Frankie? It seem as though every shadow outlined a silhouette.

Teddy feared that he would kill her.

Where could she go? What was she going to do? Frankie had left her with no home to return to, no sanctuary no matter which way she looked.

No storefronts on either side of the night-blackened street were lit. Tears mingled with the rain on Teddy's face now. As she turned the corner, she noticed the payphone booth at the other end of the street. All she could think to do was to get out of the rain, and she ran.

It was cold. The ground was slick, and she slipped more than once. The skin of her knees tore through – was there no quota to her pain? At last she reached her sub-standard sanctuary, and she collapsed against the wall out of pure exhaustion. She knew she needed help, judging from the way her head was spinning and how she could feel a broken rib through her skin.

There was only one person left for Teddy to drop a line to. Everyone else had either died, left, or forsaken her. Her trembling fingers punched in the number she'd memorized far too long ago.

One ring. Two rings.

Three. "Hello?"

"Owen..." Teddy whimpered. "Please, please let me come home."

"Teddy?" Across the country, Owen brow scrunched up when he heard her voice, one he was so well-acquainted with. He'd recognize it anywhere, no matter how many miles and how many fights they had between them.

"Help me, Owen," Teddy whispered. "I don't know what to do; I'm scared he'll find me…"

Even after years of separation, Owen knew the fear in her voice rang true. "Teddy, what's happened? What's wrong?"

"He tried to kill me, but he stopped. I don't know why, but he did…" Panicked sobs started tearing through her chest.

Owen wasn't sure he'd heard right. "I don't understand. Someone… someone tried to kill you? Who?"

A pause. Teddy looked over her shoulder, trembling, through the glass of the booth out into the dark street. And then she whispered one word: "Frankie."

Owen deliberated for a second, trying to come to terms with the two warring sides of him. On the one hand, he'd never known Teddy to lie about something as serious as this; on the other, he couldn't comprehend what she'd just said to him, and it wasn't just because she was whispering.

"Okay – okay, Teddy, listen to me." Owen's first priority was to calm Teddy down so he could understand exactly what was going on. "Take a deep breath. Tell me what happened."

Teddy heeded his request. She took a shaky breath, wincing when doing so caused her broken rib to pull at her skin.

"Frankie… he came home. He was drunk. He hit me…" Closing her eyes, she felt the path of a tear trickle down her cheek, stinging when it passed over a gash in the skin of her jaw. "He was really mad, but he's been mad for a while. I should have seen it coming…"

To Owen, Teddy still wasn't making much sense. On top of that, he was still trying to work through the fact he was talking to her again after all these years – why was she calling now? And why was it him she called?

It was a while before Owen answered. "What can I do? Where are you? Are you hurt?"

"Take me home, Owen. Please, I'm begging you. I know you don't want me there but I need to get out of here. I'm halfway from my apartment to the bus station. I think… I think I've got a broken rib, and my head doesn't feel right."

"Your apartment? You mean… in Texas, where MEDCOM headquarters are? Teddy, why are you calling me and not one of your other friends? Someone who lives closer? And if you're hurt, why aren't you at a hospital, or at Fort Sam – the people there can help you, right?"

"I don't have friends here, Owen. I need you. I don't know where the nearest ER is, and it's too late to get to the base. Besides, it's so far away…" Teddy whispered down the line, terrified and exhausted.

Owen was at a loss. "Teddy, what do you need me for? I live two thousand miles away."

"I need you," Teddy said again, her voice a sob. "I need a friend to keep me safe from… from him."

"So… you want me to just drop everything and hop on a plane?" Owen realized what he said might've come across as derisive, and he rectified it at once. "Because I'd do that for you, Teddy. I'd do anything. Just say the word."

"Would you do that, Owen? I know I'm asking the world of you. You can… you can say no, and I'd figure something out."

Owen gave a reassuring smile though he knew she couldn't see him, and hoped she could hear it in his voice. "You didn't ask for the world. Just for a friend. I'll be there Teddy, and I'll give you a call when I reach you. Do you have a cell phone?"

"No." Teddy said numbly.

"Ah. Okay. That complicates things. Why don't you find someplace safe, then, and call me from there?"

"Okay."

"Alright." Owen's finger hovered over the button on his cell phone, the back of his mind already working out what he was going to do.

"Wait – Owen!" Teddy blurted.

Owen waited.

"Thank you." She held all her sincerity in that single whisper.

"Thank me when I get there. That's in five, six hours, okay? Stay safe, now."

"Bye."

Teddy gave a long exhale as soon as she hung up. Something close to relief was bubbling up in her chest, but not quite. Her paranoia had yet to die down, but for good reason – Frankie could quite possibly be anywhere, out hunting for her.

She steeled herself to go back out into the rain.

* * *

Two hours behind in Seattle, Owen walked as fast as he could down the hall. There was still an hour left on his night shift, but he disregarded that as he headed to the locker room and dumped its contents into a bag. In a few minutes, he was out on the street and hailing a cab to the airport.

"Sea-Tac, please. Make it quick." Owen told the cabbie, ruder than he intended. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he checked for any contact from Teddy. There was none.

_What the hell am I doing? _Owen thought. Was he really travelling across to country to find someone whom he'd cut all ties and lost all contact to? He couldn't help but remember the last time he'd seen her, the way they'd both yelled and the way he'd as good as exiled her. And then he remembered holding her and wishing he'd never have to let go.

Now, looking out at the freeway streaking past him, all he could think of was every single time he'd wronged her. Would coming to her rescue this time mend everything else? Owen could only hope.

* * *

Twenty dollars. That was all Teddy had on her. Cursing to herself and equating herself to stupidity, Teddy kept walking from street-corner to street-corner until the soles of her feet felt like they were rubbed raw. Her cracked rib made her grimace with every step she took, and she knew she couldn't go much further. But at least she felt safe enough from Frankie now.

It was only two more blocks until her knees gave way and she collapsed on the pavement in front of a building illuminated with fluorescent lights.

She thought she'd make it to at least the bus station. At least then she'd have somewhere dry to lay her head, someone to point her in the right direction. The chilly fear had frosted over her fingers and toes; settled in her gut and stubbornly refused to shift. How many hours left of the night? How many left till morning?

Teddy couldn't think anymore. She closed her eyes.

* * *

"I need your earliest flight to Houston," Owen demanded of the attendant behind the counter.

"Sorry, it's full. Next one's in the morning."

"Look, I don't care if it's full, kick someone off if you have to – I have to be on that plane!"

"Sir, the flight's full, I can't –"

Owen slapped a few bills with Franklin's face on them down onto the counter. He growled: "Get me a seat, or so help me."

The attendant gulped, eyes flickering to the green paper. "I – I'll see what I can do."

* * *

"Sweetie, can you hear me?" A pinprick of light expanded into an orb as Teddy came to. She tried and failed to raise a hand to block the glare, moaning.

Every single bone in her body was far beyond weary, and every muscle anchored to those bones ached. Turning her head, she mumbled: "Where…"

A nurse clad in floral-print scrubs came into focus by her side. "You're in a hospital, dear; you got picked up off the street, just outside. You were a little out of it and you didn't make it in here by yourself. Do you know what happened to you?"

She sounded kindly; motherly, even, but in the light of what had happened Teddy cringed away unconsciously.

"I – I don't – he tried to –" Teddy tried to sit up, agitated and disorientated, but was pushed down nearly immediately.

"Shh, it's okay. Just lay down for now. What's your name?"

"T-Teddy."

"Sorry, Teddy, we need your full name," the nurse said apologetically.

Teddy tried her best to shake it off. Blinking a few times, she managed: "Yeah… yeah, I know – I'm a doctor, I know how it works. My name's Theodora Altman."

"Do you remember who did this to you?"

"Frankie – he did this…" Teddy was still in shock, and her voice shook as she spoke.

"The boyfriend, huh?"

She nodded mutely, and then added: "Not anymore."

"Good for you, love. You're too good for any man that lays a hand on you. Now, is there anybody I can call?"

"Call O-Owen for me. He might not be here yet, but you can leave him a message. Tell him where I am, that I'm okay… 206-509-" Teddy rattled off the numbers before drawing her knees up to her chest and closing her eyes.

* * *

**Tell me what you liked and what you didn't like, and what you'd like to see happen!**


	4. Safe and Sound

**Chapter:** 4\. Safe and Sound

**Author:** KimRaverFan

**A/N: **And now the meeting of Teddy and Owen! I hope you like it…! Or just tell me/us if you don't because constructive criticism rocks. But if you actually loved it that would be pretty awesome to hear too! :)

**Disclaimer: **We own nothing! Shonda does… Lucky her!

* * *

_noun_

**_safe and sound_**

1\. free from danger or injury.

* * *

She'd dreamed that she was somewhere else, so when she woke to the familiar smell of a hospital she was hit with disappointment and angst. Normally she loved that smell, though now it reminded her of her worst nightmare…

It was dark outside and it was so silent. Her body was still hurting and fear was still living inside her. What if Frankie showed up here and tried to kill her? He wasn't a stupid man and he could figure out where she was. Owen! Where was Owen!? Couldn't he find her!? She was almost about to panic when he opened her door with a cup of coffee in his hand – he looked like himself, but an older and more tired version of himself though.

"You're awake?" Owen half asked and half stated. "How are you doing?" He continued. He went to sit on the chair next to her bed.

At first her voice wouldn't master, but after trying a few times she succeeded. "My body is killing me though I'm filled with morphine. And I'm scared." She hoped he couldn't hear that she was about to cry.

He took her hand in his because of course he knew she was close to crying. They had been friends a long time; even though they hadn't been in contact in a few years, he still knew her, like she still knew him.

"I'm here, Teddy, and he can't touch you because I will protect you until you are ready to go home." Owen said with a comforting voice.

"Owen, I don't have a home and he can still find me here… Oh God… What do I do?" She covered her face with her hands because now she was really crying. Her life was just one evil circle and she had no idea how to get out of it.

She could feel a switch in the madras and before she knew it Owen was sitting next to her in the bed with his arm safely around her. They hadn't had this form of close contact since Iraq and still it felt natural. When he fired her she knew that their friendship was over and she had still believed it until she called him to get here – apparently her subconscious was still friends with Owen...

"You have a home Teddy. You are coming home to Seattle."

"I am? But I don't have a job there and I have MEDCOM here." She said and looked at him with tearful eyes.

"You called me and told me that you wanted to come home, so you are coming home. And you do have a job. You will be a hardcore cardio-goddess at my hospital. I can't give you the head of cardio spot, but you will do surgeries, and be home with friends."

She had no idea how to react. She was just one confusing mix of feelings, but finally she could see some light in her dark mind. She laid her head on Owen chest and whispered a "thank you".

Owen kissed her on the top of her head and for the first time in months she felt safe.

She was close to falling asleep when she realized - how could she be so lucky to get a job back at Seattle Grace? There was something wrong with that picture…

Luckily Owen wasn't asleep either, she could tell because of his breathing.

"Owen, how can there a job for me? How?" She whispered.

"We have a vacancy." He whispered back.

"Yeah… But who left?" Now Teddy was starting to get a bit curious.

"Cristina…. She got another job offer and she left." Owen whispered so low that she could barely hear him. However she could hear in his almost non-existing voice that he was sad that Yang was gone. She was the love of his life and though Teddy actually didn't know how it had ended between them she knew that Owen would always love Cristina.

"I'm sorry Owen. I know how much you love her," Teddy said understandingly.

"We haven't been together in a long time and I will always love her, but I want and need to find a woman who wants the same things as me…"

Those were the last words to be said that night and both Teddy and Owen fell asleep with the feeling of a new beginning – though neither knew just yet what that feeling meant.

* * *

She had to stay at the hospital for a week before they would let her go. There had been no signs of Frankie – not even the police had found him, and she was relieved. She and Owen had talked and she had realized how much she had missed her best friend. So for the first time in a long time she could feel a little bit of happiness in her stomach, a feeling she hadn't thought she would ever feel again. Her mind was still clouded, but she could tell that maybe one day the sun might shine again.

She had really looked forward to be back in Seattle, to see her friends again. She and Owen had landed last night so she had managed to check into a hotel room with her few belongings and get a little control over her nerves. Yes, she still looked over her shoulder to check after Frankie, she still cried before she fell asleep and she still had nightmares about being beaten up and even killed, but thanks to Owen, she was okay and ready to be back.

She had made a deal with Owen that they would meet outside at 10 A.M. and then they would go to a meeting where she would meet everybody again.

Owen wasn't there yet so she had some time to take everything in. It looked pretty much the same, but then her eyes fell on the huge "Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital".

_Why had they changed the name of the hospital? _

Owen must have seen that she was confused because instead of saying "hi", he said, "What's wrong?"

"Why have you named the hospital after Grey and Sloan?" She said very disbelief.

Owen looked at her like she had done something wrong which actually irritated her a bit because why couldn't he just tell her…

"They died Teddy… Sloan and Lexie died in a plane crash at the same time you left Seattle. You didn't know that?" Owen said with that frown only he could make.

"Oh my God, Owen! No, I didn't know! Was that the plane I put Cristina on after she passed her boards?" Teddy almost yelled. She wanted to scream and cry. It couldn't be true that Sloan and Lexie were dead. Arizona, Cristina, Meredith and Derek had been on that plane as well and she hadn't been there for them. She had written emails to Arizona and Yang and she had never gotten an answer – she had just thought that they wanted to move on from her…. But this was terrible.

She knew it was a selfish thought, but suddenly she got scared that they were mad at her… Oh my God…. She couldn't go in there.

"Yes," was Owen's answer and then he just looked at her. And before she got to say anything, before she got to run away, Owen added, "Don't worry Teddy, they are really looking forward to see you."

And with that she knew was home, she knew she was somewhere she could be safe…

* * *

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	5. About-Face

**Chapter:** 5\. About-Face

**Author:** SparrowBones

**A/N: **Kind of a mandatory chapter. There's some cute Teddy and Owen stuff, though?

**Disclaimer: **It's all of Shonda's creation. Don't look at me, I'm totally not just picking up a character she discarded.

* * *

_verb_

**_about-face_**

1\. (chiefly in military contexts) a turn made so as to face the opposite direction.

2\. a all-encompassing change.

* * *

Teddy took a deep breath, steeling her nerves the way she did whenever she entered the OR.

_They're your friends, _Teddy reminded herself. They'd been the ones to forsake her, and not the other way around – Teddy was more than willing to make things right again.

"You ready?" Owen asked as they neared the meeting room at the end of a familiar hallway.

Teddy opened her mouth to say 'yes', but her head shook a panicked 'no' first. She'd caught sight of her face in the reflective glass and instinctively cringed away.

The bruises still cast shadows over her face where shadows didn't normally lie. Of course, it'd been an improvement from a week ago when Owen had come to find her with the skin of her cheekbone split open.

_What were they going to think? _

Owen seemed to read Teddy's mind. Taking a step closer to her and securing her hands in his, he whispered: "Don't worry."

"Okay," Teddy whispered. If all else perished, her trust for him would remain. "Just give me a second."

Another deep breath and a reflexive glance over her shoulder later, she nodded determinedly.

"There's my brave girl." Owen smiled. It had been a long time since he could call Teddy his, even if it was only as a friend. He pushed open the door and led the way in.

His introduction came well-versed. "Morning, everyone. As I told you all before, Dr. Altman will be taking Dr. Yang's place on the surgical staff. I trust you'll all give her a warm welcome back."

Teddy was too preoccupied taking in every one of the faces she'd so dearly missed in her darkest times to listen to what Owen had to say. Those she'd taught, now fellows – Avery, Karev, Grey, Kepner. Her people – Richard, Bailey, Callie, Derek… Arizona. This was her family; she knew it, because now she felt safe. But there were faces missing – Lexie, Mark and Cristina's. It was like they'd been reaped from a home just as Teddy had been, even though she knew Cristina had left of their own volition.

How wrong it seemed that they were gone and she was here.

The smatter of applause broke her out of her reverie, and Teddy gave a wan smile before dropping her eyes. Although her nervousness had eased some, it hadn't completely dissipated – Owen could feel it emanating from her and he said hastily: "Alright, we have jobs to do, don't we? Go save lives, people."

Teddy gave him a thankful half-smile as everyone else started filing out. She felt a few fingertips brush her as they passed, heard a few whispered words, saw a couple of inquiring looks when eyes grazed over her scars. Soon enough, the room was empty bar Owen and Arizona.

Owen broke the silence: "I – I'll leave you two alone, okay? You can meet outside when you're ready, Teddy, so we can sort out your surgical schedule."

Teddy nodded numbly before turning slowly to face Arizona. Her blond hair cascaded down her face, covering the bruises like a veil.

"Teddy… what happened to you?" Arizona asked with unconcealed horror apparent in her voice as soon as Owen vacated the room.

Arizona looked the same as ever, and it seemed unreal that she was standing right there in front of Teddy. It took a few seconds before Teddy could muster the courage to speak.

"It was – it was a man. I thought he would take care of me. I should've known there'd be nobody after Henry…" Teddy mumbled brokenly.

"Oh, sweetie." Arizona took a stride and reached over to hug her friend. "It can't have been your fault."

Teddy gave a sob as she made contact with Arizona for the first time after so, so long. Her next words tumbled out in a torrent: "Arizona, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I stopped emailing; I didn't find out until today that Grey… that Mark – Mark is dead? I didn't know; I should've been there for you – you were on that plane too, and thank god you're okay. I've been the worst friend."

"Hey, hey! Don't! I didn't reply to you because I had so many other things on my mind, and I'msorry that I didn't keep in touch either. You're here now." Arizona's soft blue eyes started to glisten with tears. "I wished you were here with me, too. Callie and I went through a tough spot – well, a few actually – but I'd say I'm okay now. Almost."

She jerked the hem of her scrub pants up, and Teddy gasped upon seeing the metal and plastic that now stood for Arizona's leg.

"Arizona…" she whispered. "How could you not have called me after… after this?"

"Your new life was just getting started. Owen convinced us all a clean break would be best for you, and we trusted him," Arizona said, somewhat kindly. "He said that once a few emails, a few calls went unanswered, you'd put us all behind you and move on."

Teddy mumbled incoherently for a second before spitting out: "…dammit."

"He knows you well," Arizona grinned.

"I know – it kills me," Teddy said, half irritated and half amused.

Teddy had always stood taller than Arizona, physically; but now, beat down by fights, fists and the rain that followed her wherever she went, she felt so, so small in comparison. The jade of her eyes shimmered, and she swiped away her tears.

Arizona gave Teddy a squeeze. "I've missed you, Teds."

Teddy sighed. "Yeah, me too. More than you know, I've missed you too."

* * *

"Hunt, a word?" Webber cornered Owen after everyone else had left.

Owen stood up straighter, obligingly: "Yes, what's the matter?"

Richard's voice was low as he asked: "When's she starting surgery again?"

"Teddy? Sometime this week. Why?"

"Have you thought this through?"

"Yes, Webber, I have, believe it or not," Owen said defensively.

"Questions are going to be asked, you know, even if you've told people not to," Richard reminded, gesturing to his face.

"She can take it."

"Do you think she can go see patients with that face? At least wait until the bruises have healed. But that's beside the point – she's not ready, she's a wreck! How many times did she look over her shoulder in the past five minutes, Hunt?" Richard appealed.

"That's – she's okay, Richard, it's the best thing for her."

"Well, is it what's best for this hospital? You're the Chief of Surgery. You have to put the needs of the hospital before the needs of your friend."

"Dr. Altman is an extremely capable surgeon and teacher, you know that," Owen said with conviction. "You hired her before, and now she has three more years of service in the United States Army Medical Command under her belt to add to her outstanding credentials. She's a catch for this hospital."

"Hunt…" Richard mumbled with his hands in his lab coat pockets and eyes downcast. "I'm just advising you as a friend, as a mentor – I don't think Teddy is fit to come back to work just yet."

Owen squared his shoulders. "I stand by my decision. You're not the chief anymore; don't waste your breath trying to talk me out of this."

Just then, the meeting room door swung open and Teddy walked out with Arizona by her side, making the two men start. Richard rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he saw her.

"Morning, Dr. Webber. It's nice to see you again…" Teddy said shyly.

"Good morning, Dr. Altman. It's nice to see you too," Richard said, turning to leave. He gave Owen a meaningful look: "Think about it, Hunt."

"Think about what?" Teddy asked curiously after he'd rounded the corner.

"Nothing, it's not important. Let's go," Owen said, seeming preoccupied. "Bye, Dr. Robbins."

"Bye." Arizona smiled radiantly, squeezing Teddy's hand before heading off.

* * *

Teddy heard the door of the firehouse creak open before she saw him. Her heart raced at the sound, thrumming out an unsteady rhythm as the fear started to eat away at her again. Her hand clenched involuntarily around the kitchen knife she'd been using to chop up an apple, and she stowed it behind her back before she turned – and there was Owen coming up the stairs.

"Oh, Owen. Hi. How was your day?" Teddy asked breathlessly, but with a convincing tone of normalcy. She dropped the knife back onto the counter gingerly.

"Fine. Saw a couple patients, but it was mostly paperwork for me. When did you get back?" Owen inquired.

"Oh, just after talking to you at the hospital. I came straight back here, I didn't want to…" Teddy's voice trailed off. She was thinking of Frankie again.

"Hey." Owen dropped his briefcase on the floor and crossed the room to put his arms around Teddy. "You're safe now, try to remember that."

"I know, Owen," Teddy breathed. "I know it… but I don't feel it."

"Give it time," Owen assured, and then paused as he realized his words were reminiscent of Richard's advice. He shook it off. "Hey, you hungry? I brought Chinese."

"Oh, yes! Thanks!" Teddy grinned.

"Chow mein for you, of course." Owen winked.

"You remembered?" Teddy said in wonderment.

Owen laughed as he handed Teddy a plastic fork. "I even remembered the impairment you seem to have with chopsticks. Seriously, Teddy, you're a kick-ass cardio goddess, and I've seen you do things with a suture kit I still can't believe after all this time. How can you not be able to use chopsticks?"

"You're never going to stop rubbing that in, are you?" Teddy grumbled jokingly, snatching the fork from him.

How subjective change was. It happened in all sorts of places, and it was only its absence that surprised Teddy now.

* * *

**Hoped you liked this! Leave a review. Leave me a kiss on the cheek. I don't mind.**


	6. Strike a Balance

**Chapter: **6\. Strike a Balance

**Author: **KimRaverFan

**A/N: This is chapter 6 of our little Teddy-fic and we are truly excited that you guys like it! So keep reviewing because that makes us keep writing! :D Warning: This chapter is a bit graphic in the end. Not much, but now you are warned. **

**Disclaimer: We own nothing but our love for the characters. The rest is Shonda's.**

* * *

_verb_

**_strike a balance_**

1\. a situation in which different elements are equal and in the correct balance.

2\. countering a good situation with a bad occurrence (or vice versa).

* * *

Teddy had worked at Grey Sloan Memorial for three weeks, and for each day that passed by she felt more and more safe. It was a relief that she didn't feel the need to look over her shoulder and cry whenever she was alone with her thoughts. She still slept on Owen's couch because she couldn't bear sleeping alone just yet – that is why she'd only "slept" in that hotel room one night when she came to Seattle. She was too afraid and that night had been a living hell.

Owen didn't look at her with that worried face anymore, and it was like the old days but with more of life's experiences and respect between them. There were boundaries and they didn't flirt like they used to. The other day, Arizona had told her that she and Owen acted like they had been married for years. Though it was just a joke, Teddy still liked the thought – weird, because since when did she want to be with Owen? It wasn't like she was in love with him... but maybe it was because she felt safe with him. She was completely confused.

Luckily Teddy wasn't confused when it came to her job. She loved being in the OR, the adrenaline and feeling like the old Teddy – the Cardio Goddess, so to speak. She really wasn't confused or afraid when she was at the hospital – it was her safe place. Talking with Arizona and the others made her day, though in the beginning there had been some whispering in the corners. She couldn't really blame them though, she'd have done the same if an old attending came back and was beaten up. One night Owen had told her that some at the hospital thought she was too much of a wreck to operate and see patients, but she had proved them wrong and she was proud of herself – Owen had told her too, that he was proud of her. Life wasn't good or perfect, but it had gone from terrible to okay for Teddy – she was okay.

* * *

Her confusion about Owen and her feelings (or no feelings) for him got even worse one night. She and Owen had made dinner together, and afterwards they had Skyped with Cristina in Zurich. Teddy hadn't talked or seen her former resident since before the plane crash and it was amazing to hear her voice again. It had been a good time talking with Yang, but when Owen went to the bathroom Cristina told her something that really toyed with her brain.

"Do you remember when I told you that you could take Owen if you stayed in Seattle?"

Teddy was speechless so she just nodded. Oh god, that time had been such a mess.

Cristina continued like it was a normal conversation, "Well, I've been thinking. If the shooting had never happened, then maybe we wouldn't have got married and maybe you actually would have ended up having him after all. It's funny to think about, don't you think?"

"I guess…" Teddy had no idea how to react because it was kind of a sensitive subject for her. She had thought about the "what if", but then she'd have never met Henry, and he had made her the happiest woman on Earth for a while. She wouldn't trade that, though she knew that, just maybe, she could have gotten just as happy with Owen… but she also knew that Cristina had his heart the most, not her.

Before Cristina could say some more Teddy added, "But he loved or loves you the most, Cristina, so it was destiny that you would get married, shooting or no shooting."

"If you believe in such thing as destiny," Cristina laughed with the sound two seconds later than her facial expression. So Teddy laughed too.

In a moment Yang got serious again. "You should take him now. You should get together."

Before Teddy could answer, Owen was back and she was left more confused than ever. She and Owen… together?

* * *

'Striking a balance' was one of the big titles in Teddy's life, because as usual when her life was about to be great again something bad happened.

It had been a long day at the hospital and Teddy had lost 3 people in the OR. She had been so busy that she didn't even have the time when someone paged her that a man was looking for her.

The only positive thing about that day was the weather and she enjoyed walking home to the firehouse. Owen had to stay at the hospital, but she didn't mind being alone after such a hectic day, she needed to be home and to not talk with anyone – just like she used to before the Frankie-attack.

She threw herself on the couch when she got home and then she heard the door downstairs. _Shit,_ she had completely forgotten to lock the door and the fear came back at a hundred miles a second. She told herself it was Owen, but the footsteps didn't belong to Owen… they belonged to Frankie.

"Hello, Teddy. You look good." That was all he said, and before she could react he was next to her… and then everything went black.

* * *

When she woke up she thought she had fallen out of bed which could explain her extremely terrible headache, but then she remembered, _Frankie!_ Where was she? She looked around and everything was dark – however, she could make out some car tires and other stuff for cars. It looked like an abandoned gas station or something. They would never find her and Frankie would probably kill her this time, _Oh God!_ Teddy started crying and shaking with fear. He hadn't done anything to her besides hitting her head, so what would he do to her before ending her life? That was the question that scared Teddy more than dying.

She had no idea how long time it had been before he came, but suddenly he was standing in front of her – Teddy hadn't even noticed that he had switch on some light. He was looking down at her with a look in his eyes she could quite place.

"I have missed you, Theodora." He said with tender in his voice which made her shiver. "But I have been following you around for the past week and I can't accept that you are sleeping with that ginger… So, my sweet Teddy, you know what that means."

"You will kill me." Teddy stated with a very low voice. She was so scared that she had no function over her body and her voice wouldn't master at all.

Frankie started laughing like she was a kid that had said something stupid. He sat down, holding her chin and said, "Yes, my dear, but first, you and I will have a little fun because I have really missed you."

Teddy didn't even get to process his words before he started kissing her and ripping her clothes and her underwear off. His dirty hands grabbed her breast so hard that she screamed from pain.

"Silent!" Frankie yelled and slapped her across the face.

She couldn't move and before she knew it she was hit with so much pain when he penetrated her. He kept pushing inside her with so much force that she couldn't keep the tears back, but she stayed silent.

Luckily, he finished quickly and stood up.

"If I can't have you, no one can." Frankie said and kicked her hard in the stomach several times so she almost lost consciousness.

He took all of her clothes, and before he left he added, "And we are in the middle of nowhere so screaming will do you nothing."

Teddy was left naked, freezing and more scared than ever. She would never survive this, she was sure.

* * *

**Review! Please! Good or bad – just do it :)**


	7. Back Against the Wall

**Chapter: **7\. Back Against the Wall

**Author: **SparrowBones

**A/N: **Sorry this took so long! I just couldn't get the words out right, and the chapter's still a bit frayed around the edges but it'll have to do.

**Disclaimer: **We own absolutely nothing. Nada. Zippo.

* * *

_informal_

**_back against the wall_**

1\. in a hard-pressed situation.

2\. no means of escape.

* * *

_1 voice mail. 2 missed calls._

"Hey, it's Owen. I just got home. How long are you going to be out for? Have you eaten yet?"

_3 voice mails. 5 missed calls. 3 pending text messages._

"Teddy, where are you? When are you coming back? You left the door unlocked."

_17 voice mails. 20 missed calls. 9 pending text messages._

"Teddy, where the hell are you? Goddammit, are you okay? What's happened? Teddy?"

* * *

The throbbing in Teddy's head and between her legs only heightened when the privilege of unconsciousness no longer kept it at bay, and all the muscles tightened in her face at once when she came to and realized where she was and who she was with. Her blind stumble between oblivion and waking brought everything back in an instant – as if she could bleach those memories of_ him _violating her like that from her mind so easily, if ever.

She opened her eyes to a dusty darkness, where the only light was the flicker of a few scattered candles. There were ropes shackling her wrists, tugging at her skin and surely chafing; she was clothed only in her bra and panties.

"Hey." Frankie smiled, completely at ease.

She whipped her head around, hair sticking to her damp forehead. She hoped he could see the mistrust burning like fire in her eyes.

He pouted mockingly. "Oh, don't be like that."

"What are you doing, Frankie?" Teddy croaked, wincing when the movement of her jaw drove nails into her skull.

"Oh, just having fun. Don't you like fun anymore?" As Frankie stalked closer, Teddy shrunk back, but her eyes remained as steely as her will. He cupped Teddy's face in one brutish hand, tracing his thumb along the break in her tan skin. His eyes were like that of a child's – curious but so, so ignorant.

"I've been meaning to ask - did I do that?" Frankie murmured.

Teddy's cringe was all the answer he needed.

"That was so no one would ever take you from me, you know. No one likes scars on girls. But I wouldn't mind, as long as it was you." Unfeeling, emotionless. Teddy wondered if there was any human left in him. The revulsion at him – at what he did to her, both then and now – it had just about crushed her soul.

"What happened to you, Frankie? You used to be so… kind, so charming," Teddy whispered brokenly.

He gave her words a moment's thought. The twist of his mouth that came after sent Teddy's stomach plummeting from staggering heights, making way for fear to its place. "You want charming? I can be charming. Want to see what I fun I've thought up for tonight?"

Teddy shrunk back, swallowing. "Not really, no."

He chose not to hear, and from behind him, Frankie revealed a bottle. The clear liquid inside sloshed sickeningly, and Teddy could bet that it wasn't water. The shot glasses he placed in front of him proved it.

"I came prepared. Kind of a quality of mine, don't you think?" He poured a shot, and the wintry chemical smell of top-shelf, 40-proof vodka wafted towards Teddy.

"I don't want –"

"Of course you do. It hasn't been that long, Theodora – I remember how much you like to drink. What do you say to us feeling like kids again? This is the good stuff, but don't worry about the money, though – five-finger discounts, all around. So, bottoms up. No need to be shy." Frankie rambled, half to himself.

He cocked his head a second later. "Oh. Maybe you need a little help."

"No, I –"

Frankie pinched the glass between two fingers, shuffling forwards to kneel by her. Teddy whimpered as Frankie brought it to her lips and secured her jaw with one rough hand, jerking her head towards him; her bottle-green irises shimmered, and there was no way Frankie couldn't sense her fear. As if revelling in it, Frankie tipped the contents of the shot glass into her mouth at once.

Oh, how it burned. The alcohol carved its path through her airways and she gasped for air, only to find that Frankie's hand blocked her mouth, forcing her to swallow. This time she couldn't help the tears, and the vile taste in her mouth was worse than any gag. And as soon as Frankie released her, everything just came up again when she spluttered. The coughs tearing up her throat felt like corrugated daggers.

Frankie got a faceful of vodka and spit, and Teddy didn't try to turn away.

One second.

It only took that long for him to break. Teddy felt the metaphorical shift in the air, heard the figurative _snap_. Looking murderous, Frankie slowly wiped off his face. "You're going to regret that."

Teddy managed to choke out through the bile she was now hacking up in torrents: "I'm sorry, Frankie, I didn't mean to –" _Of course I meant to, you bastard._

"Don't you tell me that! Don't you say that to me!" Frankie hissed, angered. "If you didn't mean it, why did you run?"

Now Teddy was confused. She pressed herself up against the wall and tried not to provoke him further, still coughing. "Wh-what are you talking about? I didn't –"

"You left me!" Frankie roared, getting to his feet and dragging Teddy with him by her hair. He slammed her against the wall again and again, matching every word with a corresponding smash. "You left me! You left me!"

He shoved her roughly back onto the floor, breathing heavily and balling his fists. Teddy squeezed her eyes shut; she felt like her shoulder blades had just been shattered. It gave a new meaning to 'broken wings'.

Teddy's voice was even more pleading now. She injected just the right amount of sweetness into her words through gritted teeth. A lie. "I thought you loved me, Frankie. We loved each other, didn't we? Don't we?"

Frankie's turned his head slowly towards her, speaking in barely more than a hiss. "Do you think I'm stupid?"

_Yes._ "Of course not, Frankie. Why would you say something like that? I love –"

"Don't you _dare _say you love me!"

"What do you want me to say, then?" Teddy begged.

"Why don't you tell me who Henry is, huh?" Frankie spat.

Teddy opened her mouth, but no words came out. The shock of his words rattled her to the bone. _What?_

"W-what do you mean?" Teddy managed at last, her mind racing. _How could he know about Henry?_

"I mean, who is this man you're cheating on me with, you stupid bitch?"

It took Teddy a second to conjure up the scenario in her mind that Frankie had. The sheer strangeness of that image made her want to laugh, but there was nothing remotely funny about it.

"I don't know who that is, I swear." Teddy's voice came slow; came low. "Frankie, I promise I never cheated on you."

"You're lying; I know it!" Frankie lunged forwards and struck Teddy across the face. Once. Twice. _Smack. Smack. _She blinked the tears back from her eyes, telling herself that the sting was the least she'd ever felt. She would _not _cry in front of this man. Weakness would always be her downfall.

_"Don't leave me, Henry, don't go!" _Frankie hissed, giving a near-perfect rendition of Teddy's voice. "How many times do you think I heard you saying that name when you were sleeping? _Every night! _Don't you lie to me!"

"He's not – I don't know who you're talking about!" Teddy cried desperately. _Stupid, stupid, stupid! You should have left him as soon as he started to yell at you over nothing! Of course he knew, all along!_

"I found this in his house! Is this him?" Frankie snatched a black-framed photograph from his backpack, flinging it and Teddy and jabbing his finger at the man in it. _Owen. _That was a picture of him and Teddy from way back then, when they'd been serving in Iraq. "I will hurt him! I will hurt the people you love if you don't tell me right now who that bastard is!"

"Frankie, that's not anybody; that's just a friend!" The strength she couldn't muster for her own self-preservation came through when it came to protecting her family. And Owen was family. It was what she was born for. She struggled against the ropes around her wrists again.

"Why were you in his house? Why'd you go running to him and not to me?"

"I was running _from _you, Frankie! What the hell did you expect me to do?" Teddy yelled furiously, hating that her cheeks were wet and that she was in such a compromised position.

"You'll never run away from me again, Theodora. I swear to god you won't." His voice was as predatory as Teddy had ever heard it. "If you even so much as try to escape, I'll blow your legs off."

With that, Frankie extracted a gun and pressed it to one of Teddy's kneecaps. "I swear I will."

* * *

"Robbins, is Teddy with you? Did she stop by your place at all?" Owen demanded of Arizona for the fourth time that night.

"No, I told you already!" Arizona was getting frustrated, too, not to mention the fact that Owen's rabid worry was infectious. "Don't you think I'd tell you if I'd heard anything?"

"It's gone two in the morning. Where could she be? She's just… she's just gone!"

"Are you sure she didn't leave a note or anything?"

"Yes, I'm absolutely fucking sure!"

"Alright, alright, you don't need to be mean about it." Arizona breathed out slowly. _Keep a cool head, don't freak out. _"I think you should call the police now. Or I can, if you'd like. Take a breath, Hunt."

He did.

"I'll call." Owen slammed down the receiver, and his fingers found the numbers like second nature – 911.

* * *

"9-1-1, what's your emergency?" The operator's drawl snaked down the line.

"Yes, I'd like to report a missing person –" Owen began.

"Hold on, let me divert your call. You're being redirected to Missing Persons Services."

Owen drummed his fingers impatiently on the marble countertop.

Another voice, female and kindly, came through the receiver. "What would you like to report, sir?"

"My friend – she's thirty-eight, um, blonde hair, 5'9" or 10". She's been staying at my residence and when I got home this evening I found the door unlocked."

"Your friend – what's her name?" The sound of a keyboard clacked away in the background.

"Teddy – I mean, Theodora. Theodora Altman."

"What time did you say you got home again, sir?"

"Around six this evening."

"I'm sorry, sir, it's only been eight hours, we don't customarily –"

Owen cut her off. "Couldn't you at least try?"

"I'm sorry," she repeated. "I can't get a warrant to start a search if it hasn't been more than twenty-four hours."

The defeat was crushing; it was devastating. Owen had been up for a double shift and all the eight hours after that. He wasn't one to give up, but the exhaustion was getting to him.

Just then, a chilling thought surfaced in Owen's mind. "She was beaten up by her ex-boyfriend a few weeks ago. Does that change anything? She's been saying that he'd come and find her for quite some time now, and I've just now started to believe her." _Dammit, dammit, dammit. How could I not have seen it sooner?_

"I – oh." The woman on the other end seemed to be caught off guard. "I believe so – but was this reported? Have you spoken to anyone from Domestic? Is there any proof of this?"

"No, she wouldn't let me report it, but she has medical records from Houston that document her injuries."

"Okay, sir. That will do. Let me take a look through our databases for those documents. Do you by any chance know this ex's name?"

"Uh, she said something about… I think I heard her say that it was a guy named Frankie. I don't know for sure."

"That's okay. We'll be in contact if we find something, alright? I'll take down your number."

"Okay. Thanks. Please do your best." Owen mumbled with his head in his hands.

"I will. I promise."

* * *

**I lost my muse for quite some time there. How strange it is that it came back just as I was going to start revising four semesters' worth of Physics!**


	8. Broken Soul

**Chapter: **8\. Broken Soul

**Author: **KimRaverFan

**A/N: **I'm so so sorry that it had taken me so long to update… I have been so busy with a huge writer's block and work… But now chapter 8 is here and I hope you will like it. :)

**Disclaimer: **We own nothing!

* * *

_adj._

**broken**

1\. having been broken.

2\. (of a person) having given up all hope; despairing.

* * *

Teddy had tried to keep track of the days, so she was almost certain that she had been there for a week. As more time passed she got more and more scared that she would never be found again and would get killed by Frankie in the end. Every time she thought about it, she could feel her metaphorical heart break piece by piece; it was almost completely broken because that was all she could think about, her death. She tried to lock down her feelings, but she never succeeded. She would die in this warehouse and she would never see Owen again whom she had really started to miss – she missed the safety he gave her and well, just him.

In the beginning Frankie had come every day to either rape her, threaten her or swear Henry to Hell, but now that she thought about it she hadn't seen him since the day before yesterday… Where was he? Had he been caught by the police? No, she couldn't get her hopes up – they would just destroy her.

She got interrupted in her thoughts when the door to her prison opened and Frankie came in. When he got closer she could see he looked very resolute and before she knew it he put something in front of her mouth without a word and then everything went black.

* * *

Owen hadn't slept all week. His mind was completely filled with Teddy and where she could be… And was she dead? If they found her murdered he would never be able to do anything again. He had just lost Cristina to her future, so he could not bear losing Teddy to her end – he wouldn't make it.

When she had been gone for two days the police had finally begun the search however they hadn't found anything yet. He had called them every other hour, but he got the same answer, "I'm sorry Dr. Hunt, but we have nothing new to tell you. We will call you when we have."

He knew that they probably wouldn't call him. However, it gave him some comfort that they maybe would, so he often checked his phone to see if it still was on sound. If he was in surgery a nurse would check.

The others at the hospital had started to worry about him, he could tell. Arizona had asked him several times how he was holding up and he just answered "I'm fine" though he could see that she didn't believe him for a second. Others had told him to go home and Derek had literally kicked him out one day because he wouldn't talk about it.

He couldn't tell anyone that he was broken inside; that his life had become a nightmare which felt like he would wake up from any minute – he wished he would.

* * *

Before she opened her eyes she could smell that she was somewhere else. This place smelled dry. She opened her eyes and everything was dark. She was lying on a mattress and she had a blanket over her naked body. She crawled around the little room and found a toilet… _How sweet of him_, she thought sarcastically.

Suddenly, a weird rummaging sounded outside and after a while a heavy door into her new "cell" got opened. There was a bright light from a bulb in the addict outside which hurt her eyes and it took some time before she realized that the huge shadow in the door opening was Frankie.

"Welcome to our new home, sweetie." Frankie said just like he said it when they moved in together last year. She could feel the familiar lump in her throat and in few seconds she would cry, but she knew she shouldn't. She wouldn't show Frankie how weak he had done her, he shouldn't have that victory.

So she kept telling herself to shut down, and in doing so she had apparently looked down to the wooden floor, and her cheek suddenly hurt.

"You listen when I talk! You understand!? Or I will do something to you that hurt so much that you will end up in a wheelchair for the rest of your life, if you live that long!" Frankie yelled.

"Yes. I will listen." She whispered.

"Good. Here is some food. If you are a sweet girl the next few days then maybe, just maybe, I'll let you up in the house."

He placed a tray on the floor and then he left, shutting the heavy door after him. She was alone in the dark and she knew that now she would never get out without any help. This was the end of Teddy; that she knew.

* * *

"Hello, Dr. Hunt? I'm calling to inform you that we have found the place where Dr. Altman was kept prisoner. Some of her belongings were at the scene and I would like you to come in and identify them as soon as possible." The policewoman said professionally.

"You said 'was'? You are telling me she is dead?" It was all he heard, that little word in past tense and in that moment his world fell apart – she was dead, Teddy was dead.

"No, no I'm sorry. I thought my colleague had called you to tell you that we found some of her belongings in a warehouse just outside town. Neither she nor her capturer was there, so it appears that he moved her. Dr. Hunt, we are positive that Dr. Altman is still alive."

He had no idea what to say. All that came out was, "Oh…" It took some time to understand what the woman had said and when he did he got hit by a sudden anger.

"How dare you make me believe that my best friend is dead? You should get fired! And maybe you are positive that she is still alive, but you know what? He could be out in the woods burying her body! So I'm not positive of anything!" He yelled in the phone and then ended the call.

He needed to get out of here and get some air. He didn't even realize he'd walked to Joe's and bought a beer. It was good he didn't have any scheduled surgeries today.

* * *

She had tried to be nice when he came down to her little dark room. She needed to get up in that house because she couldn't take more of this 'black hole', as she called it – she was getting suffocated. She had pleased him and flirted with him so she was almost confident that she would get out the next time he came.

Teddy hadn't cried in days. That much she knew, and she was proud. Her feelings were gone so when she was alone she either slept or just looked into the dark. She didn't think or feel anymore – she had shut down.

When he finally showed he gave her something soft – it was an apron. The only word he said was "come". She tried to stand up but her legs were too weak so Frankie had to support her up the stairs. It was weird. Though everything got weirder when he gave her a tour around the house because there were pictures of Frankie and her on their vacation to Italy and their Christmas together. She started to shake, what was this? He had made them a home…

"Now you take the apron on and then you cook your delicious pie." Frankie told her like it was a completely normal request and a completely normal situation.

"Naked?" She asked, afraid of the answer.

"Alrightm I'll tell you the rules. You will obey me or you will get punished and get back to the basement. I'll have my eyes on you all time so if you try to escape I will know and I will kill you. You shall clean the house, you shall make me food, and you shall be naked all the time so I can look at your body. And best of all, every night we will have sex in the big bed. If you have satisfied me you will sleep next to me if you don't you will get punished. Do you understand?"

She couldn't utter a word, so she just nodded slowly. For the first time in over a week she was so scared that she couldn't speak. Frankie was a psychopath and now she had to obey him.

"Welcome to your new life, sweetie." Frankie winked.


	9. Tooth and Nail

**Chapter: **9\. Tooth and Nail

**Author: **SparrowBones

**A/N:** Grisly chapter ahead. You've been warned.

**Disclaimer: **My name's not Shonda. Don't look at me. All hers, not mine.

* * *

_adj._

**fight tooth and nail**

1\. to use a lot of effort to oppose someone or achieve something.

* * *

"She was here, definitely – those clothes are hers, aren't they?" The detective muttered sheepishly.

"Yeah, but where the hell is she now?" Owen spat, twisting his fingers into his already tousled hair.

"We – I mean, we don't have any new leads, but we triangulated using the cell phone number you gave us for your friend. That was what led us here, and a lead's a lead. My team's scouting out the scene for clues as to where she might be now."

Owen groaned, sickened by worry and fear and by the sight of that smear of blood on the wall, just where Teddy's head would have been if she was standing.

"Sir, we found two bottles of vodka and a shot glass. We've swabbed them for DNA; that blood on the wall, too." A Seattle PD officer came over with a bag in hand.

"Good, good, I'll send them back to the lab for testing." The detective glanced over at Owen. "Dr. Hunt – Owen – we'll find her. Okay? Just hang tight. In the meantime…" The detective extracted something that glinted from one of the bags in his hands. "Is this hers?"

The glint was from the dog tags Teddy always wore around her neck, and Owen's heart gave a dull twist in his chest. He swallowed and nodded yes – the lump in his throat disallowed his speaking.

"Thank you," The detective said sincerely. "After processing this, we'll see if we can find out where that guy Frankie has taken her. Hopefully he hasn't gone too far."

* * *

The sliver of light coming from the crack under the basement door was just enough to illuminate the cuts on Teddy's feet. Morning? Afternoon? Time has lost all meaning in this dungeon of a place.

The cold seemed intent on consuming her whole. A tear-sodden blanket was Teddy's only reprieve, and she clutched it to her chest where her fingers still fumbled out of habit for those dog tags that had always been her talisman. A reminder of her friend.

_Owen. _Teddy wondered if he worried for her. She wondered where he was now, what he was doing, what he was thinking. Was it her on his mind? Teddy only wished. Her thoughts bordered on delirium for it was just so, so cold.

Just then, a soft breeze flitted across Teddy's face, giving a few grime-saturated tendrils of blonde hair flight for just a moment.

_Where's that coming from? _Teddy sat up abruptly, perturbed. The breeze died, but Teddy was sure she hadn't imagined it. Where could that have come from in this air-locked basement?

Teddy stood up slowly, steadying herself before the rush of blood to her head could make her fall. When it had passed, she padded across the cold floor, nearly walking headlong into the opposite wall.

She felt it again. That breeze was stronger here, the air changing from stale to fresh. It was barely discernable in the darkness, but she could just make it out – the shadow of a lip in the wall, sloping upwards.

She secured a pale, grazed elbow up against the narrow ledge, heart fluttering. Hoisting herself up with joints sore from being battered up and stiff from the lack of use, she drew a tremulous breath. She made it. No noise, not even a whisper.

A few feet into the crawl space, she could feel soil in her hands and she secured the blanket around her naked bodice. Teddy eased herself through the gap under the wall, not caring when the splinters planted themselves in her flesh. She'd felt worse. Her fingers found the grass right away on the other side – _boarded-up vent, _she thought. _Of course. I would've suffocated long before now; he left me in there for so long. _She thanked her lucky stars that her prison hadn't been on higher ground.

This was the backyard she'd seen from the upstairs window that day Frankie had let her sleep in his bed. On the other side of this six-foot fence was the pavement… so close –

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" The anger in his voice was unmistakeable, and Teddy didn't have to turn to know who was talking.

She ran. Not caring that the blanket was slipping around her waist, she ran and ran to the other end of the backyard, vaulting for the corrugated lip of the fence. Scrabbling upwards and out, Teddy thought she had made it until she felt the hand around her ankle pulling her down.

He was too strong. Yanking Teddy down in one swift movement, Teddy saw the strike of his outstretched palm coming before she felt in full force.

Teddy ground her teeth against the sob of anguish that grated against her throat. Giving a futile wrench of her wrist, Teddy kicked out at Frankie's shins, screaming.

"Help! Somebody –"

Teddy managed to catch a fleeting breath a second before Frankie formed an iron fist around her throat. Her pupils dilated in fear, and she found that her lungs could no longer contract and she could no longer draw oxygen from the air. With her free hand, Teddy curled her fingers in a vicious claw and slashed at Frankie's face, feeling the jabbing sensation of her nail breaking moments after.

Frankie only tightened his grip as he locked his forearm across her neck. "You try to scream one more time and I will cut your tongue out. Do _not _try me, Theodora Altman." He released her roughly, throwing her to the dirt and kicking her hard enough to break her ribs – again. Picking her back up by her upper arm before she even had time to register the pain, Frankie pressed Teddy right up against him. "You ran from me."

The anger in his electric blue eyes stunned Teddy in their unconscious candor – honest rage, because he truly believed what he did was for Teddy's own good. But that didn't mean Teddy could forgive him; didn't stop Teddy's crushing humiliation and disappointment upon her recapture.

Teddy refused to let the tears fall. She didn't know why she cared – all she knew was that Frankie had beaten her down for long enough. As she let her body go limp in his arms in defiance rather than defeat, she hissed with the most contempt she could muster: "I'm sorry I'm not some hysterical bitch – you should know that I'm not the type to beg for my life by now."

Frankie breathed hard. Teddy felt the rise and fall of his chest, her naked body against his crisp shirt. And without any warning, he knocked her to a sitting position on the ground.

"Just remember, you asked for it."

Teddy barely had time to contemplate what exactly that meant before the cold muzzle of a gun stamped itself onto her patella. She didn't even manage to twist away before – _bang!_

Frankie had pulled the trigger.

* * *

_Bang. _The unmistakable sound of a gun firing rang clear through the sky of the residential Seattle neighborhood. Doors, windows – they started to open up and down the street, wide eyes of civilians flitting anxiously around. That couldn't have been more than a couple blocks away.

Owen stopped in his tracks, one hand on the door handle of the Seattle PD squad car. "Jesus, what was that?" He asked, shaken. He tried to blink back the images from his mind surreptitiously – mangled soldiers, hitting the sand in a maelstrom of flying bullets. Helicopter blades.

"Shots fired, shot fired! Anybody got a location?" The detective screeched down the radio, ignoring Owen completely.

That was when he heard it.

The agonized wail.

A familiar voice.

But she'd never once screamed like that. Not from pain.

That sound was the direct translation of a wild, toxic fear, and Owen started to run.

"Hey – wait! You don't know who's –"

"That's her." Owen managed to snarl in the general direction of the detective without breaking pace. The sound of dress shoes on pavement soon followed, and panting breaths.

One block to where Owen knew he would find her. Dead, or alive? He hoped with all his heart for the latter. _She can't be - _

Another scream; Owen ran faster than he ever had. He took all the steps up onto the porch of the house in one single bound – the white-shingled house Teddy had been held captive in all this time. He rammed so hard against the handle that three of the glass panes in the door shattered, spraying glass every which way.

"Let me!" The detective panted. Extracting his gun and positioning himself against the door frame, he instructed Owen to do the same. "Seattle PD! Open up!"

The only response was three rapid shots, the smell of gun smoke and the sound of a splintering door. "Damn it!" The detective placed a well-aimed kick, downing the remnants of the wood and forging inside. "Hunt, get back! Find cover!"

Owen wasn't having any of it.

"Where is she?" He roared. "I swear, if you've hurt her –"

Just then, Frankie came around the corner. In his arms was Teddy, her knee mangled – beyond repair, Owen knew it – and in his hand was a gun, pressed against Teddy's temple. Her eyes slid in an out of focus, and Owen's heart skipped a beat as he saw her. Those extensive injuries had maimed her to the point where she was nearly unrecognizable, and the bones in her cheeks and jaws jutted far more prominently than they used to. Her nakedness left nothing to imagination, scars and bruises seeming to flaunt themselves – Teddy wouldn't have lasted another day without medical attention. And still, now, at this moment – her life could just slip…

"Come any closer and I'll kill her." Frankie said, calm masking his features.

The rage boiling within Owen bubbled over before he could quell it. "You don't lay another finger on her, you son of a bitch. You hear me? I – I'll fucking –"

"Hunt!" The detective warned, tone too desperate to soothe. "Okay, okay – Frankie, right? Don't do anything rash. Put down your gun. I won't hurt you."

"Like hell you won't!" And by the looks of it, Frankie was just as desperate. He jerked Teddy roughly and she screamed shrilly, the pain obscuring reality in a warped and twisted way. She heard the gunfire; eyes fell on the silver-muzzled gun but couldn't bring herself to see. Her mind dropped her into an alternate realm without her knowing – in mind's eye, she saw the khaki tarps and the trundling wheels, all dusted in sand. Iraq. Gunshots shattering air. She threw up her arms to protect her head and consigned herself to oblivion in the best way she could, in sensory deprivation.

_Make it stop. I don't want this; not any of it! Owen – save me! _The tormented yearning surpassed the agony consuming the lower part of her body nearly twofold.

_Let me die._

Teddy closed her eyes, vivid green dimmed in an instant. The little effort she'd expended trying to stand herself upright on a shattered knee slackened, and she collapsed to the ground.

In the next second, one last shot split the air.

Frankie's body splayed across hers before Teddy had time to react, and she was pinned. Panicking, pain blurring the edges of her vision, she screamed once more. Screamed and screamed, until a familiar scent, a familiar pair of arms came and enveloped her.

"It's okay, Teddy, it's over. Honey, it's over, you're safe. It's okay. Don't cry. You don't have to be scared anymore." Owen crushed her to his chest, her bare skin chafing his. "I'm here, baby."

* * *

**Well, that was a hell of a chapter to write! What do you say? Am I evil enough to be Shonda? Leave a review – I would so love to hear what you thought of this.**


	10. Future Untold

**Chapter: **10\. Future Untold

**Author:** KimRaverFan

**A/N: **I'm so glad that you guys love our fanfic! We appreciate it very much! This is a little chapter 10 and just the beginning of the aftermath of Teddys terrible destiny. I hope you'll enjoy it though it might be a bit "thin". :)

**Disclaimer: **We own nothing.

* * *

_adj._

**untold**

1\. too much or too many to be counted or measured.

2\. (of a story or event) not narrated or recounted.

* * *

It was dark in her mind though it was day outside. Teddy couldn't do anything but stare into nothingness. It was like her mind was blocked from everything and she couldn't think, she couldn't eat, she couldn't sleep. As told, she couldn't do anything.

A shrink or two had told her to talk about what had happened, though Teddy knew that there was very little possibility that she would ever do that – especially to a shrink. She didn't even want to think about it and she had tried hard to hide it in her brain so it wouldn't keep hurting and hunting her, though sometimes everything came to surface and she would cry because the weeks with Frankie had been worse than death. Of that she was sure.

Somewhere deep down, she knew she was free, she knew she was now at Owen's, she knew she was safe, but out of the corner of her eyes she keep seeing Frankie and he was always smiling, which made her cry again and again. He was everywhere though she fought to keep him away – but she couldn't. She had no idea how long she had been free, but she was sure she would never really be free.

Though Owen was physically back at work, his head wasn't. He thought about Teddy all the time and he was so worried that it sometimes felt like he had to vomit. She was in the hospital for a month and then she was committed on "psych" for a few weeks and now she was in his apartment, alone and broken. She had become so skinny and fragile and there wasn't much left of the strong Teddy he had known in Iraq. He would give his right arm to have the old Teddy back because right now he had no idea what the future of Dr. Altman would be and that scared the crap out of him.

He had tried talking to her and, hell, he had tried to force-feed her, but still no response from her, besides yes and no. He had sent Arizona over however that hadn't helped either. Owen was lost and soon would the life of his best friend be too if he didn't do something.

She had had a good day today, she hadn't cried as much as she used to and her body had obeyed more than it used to. She had gone to bed early that evening in hope of sleeping through a night without nightmares of rape and violence.

She woke up because of a heavy breathing in the dark. All of her muscles tightened and all of her angst came back. She opened her eyes and saw a shadow, Frankie. She started to scream and cry; it had all been a dream that she was free – she was still kidnapped!

All of a sudden he turned the lights on and then she saw it wasn't Frankie but Owen. How could that be? Was she free or….? She was so confused that she hid her head in her hands and started crying silently instead of screaming.

"It's just me, Teddy. I'm sorry if I scared you." Owen said with a low voice as he slowly went over to the bed.

He wanted to hug her so bad, he wanted to take all of her pain and send it away to Russia, but he couldn't do either of them.

"Owen? Is it really you? Am I free? Where is Frankie?" She whispered.

It was her first words in weeks and for the first time she had actually eye contact with him. Her words were disturbing; howeve,r he almost couldn't stop smiling because there was still some Teddy left, she was still there. Though he quickly turned serious again, he couldn't let her go back to her dark place again.

"Frankie is dead. Do you remember? And yes, you are free and I'm here to take care of you."

When he didn't get a response but instead a confused stare he continued.

"May I sit?" He said, and pointed to the bed.

Still no response, so he sat on the bed in front of Teddy.

"What happened to you?" He tried.

"I don't want to talk about it, Owen, I can't. My mind is dark and right now I can't even remember what has happened to me. It's just…. dark." She said, and removed her eyes from Owen, looking around the room like she was seeing it for the first time.

"Well, then, I'll let you get some sleep. Goodnight." Owen was about to stand up when he could feel a tight grip around his wrist.

"Please don't leave me. Sleep here. Please". All of a sudden she just needed some human contact and a feeling of being safe. Something she hadn't had in a long time.

Owen lay down next to her and had no idea how to react or act.

"Please hold me," She whispered.

A "what?" flew out of him, but he complied and put his big arms around her little form. At first she froze and he was sure he had ruined everything. But after few seconds he could feel her relax.

The familiar smell of Owen and the whole situation made her feel something she couldn't quite place. Everything was so strange that she couldn't keep her tears back.

"Are you okay, Teddy?" Owen whispered, concerned.

"Yeah… thank you." She managed to say. What Owen didn't know was that for the first time in weeks she could actually see a little bit of light in her dark mind.


	11. Feeling Small

**Chapter: **11\. Feeling Small

**Author: **SparrowBones

**A/N: **It's been a while, I know! It's not KimRaverFan's fault - after all, it was my turn to write the chapter and I've just had so many IRL things going on. Apologies in advance for a slightly half-hearted and tedious chapter. I hope you all are still with us - KimRaverFan, Teddy, Frankie, Owen and I!

**Disclaimer: **We own mostly nothing. But I believe we do own the character Frankie. Yay us!

* * *

_adj._

**small**

1\. being below the average in size or magnitude.

2\. limited in importance or significance; trivial.

3\. having been belittled; humiliated.

* * *

"Teddy, honey, _please _eat something." Owen pleaded, feeling like he was talking to a brick wall. He eased the spoon into Teddy's hand for what seemed like the thousandth time.

Teddy's hazed eyes flickered towards him briefly; she was barely aware that Owen was talking, let alone that he was talking to her.

"Please. I don't want you to starve. You're too thin." And it was true – Teddy had turned to skin and bones in the weeks following, her once tan skin losing its color by the day. The hollows of her cheeks clung to her skull with a tautness that was alarming.

"I'm not… I'm not hungry." Teddy managed a barely audible whisper before lapsing back into her catatonic silence. Her knuckles flashed white as her quivering hands formed fists.

_"Please."_ The whisper was the sound of broken shards of glass clattering against stone. Owen raised the spoon to Teddy's cracked lips with his own hand, feeling so wretched inside for having to subject Teddy to this kind of humiliation. Teddy wasn't a child, but her mind had made her one. Frankie had made her one. "Just a bite –"

"Dammit, Owen, I said no!" Her mood veered off course with no break; no warning. Owen found the spoon flying out of his hand, colliding with the marble of the counter and resounding with an ear-splitting clang.

And Teddy screamed. Her hands flew up to her head, tremors racking through her body like she'd just been electrocuted. The look in her eyes was near feral – the terror of a hapless animal; captured, cornered, enslaved by the confusion of memory and reality. Because when she looked at Owen, she only saw Frankie. Felt the bullet ripping through her skin and flesh and bone once again as she toppled off her chair onto the knee Frankie had blighted beyond repair.

"Oh god, Teddy, are you okay? I'm sorry, honey, I'm sorry!" Owen scrambled frantically to help Teddy up, but she lashed out at his touch, fists flailing. And as soon as Owen caught her wrists, the derangement in her eyes multiplied a hundredfold…

"Stop!" She screeched. "Don't, please, I'll do anything!" The tears of pain and fear rolled hot against Teddy's cheeks and onto Owen's chest as he pulled her close.

"Shh, shh, it's me. It's Owen – you know who I am, don't you? I'm your best friend. Teddy, I'm your best friend."

"O-Owen…?" Teddy muttered, eyes wheeling and every muscle in her body pulled tight.

"That's right. It's just me. You're in my house; you're safe here." Those were the same words Owen had used every time Teddy was set off this way. A loud noise, a word delivered wrong, or… the last time Owen had tried to change Teddy's clothes, the very same thing had happened. Owen could only pray that these episodes stayed short.

"My… my knee," Teddy whimpered. She couldn't bear to look, and buried her face into Owen's chest. Owen's stomach turned as he unravelled the thick bandages to find the sutures torn right open and yellow pus oozing from the wound.

"Oh, Teds." Owen breathed, trying to keep the atmosphere light. "You should really be more careful. How long has your knee been like that? You should tell me these things."

Teddy shivered. "It hurts, Owen."

"I know. I know, sweetie. Here –" Owen deftly manoeuvred Teddy into his arms just right, so her knee wouldn't be jostled.

"Where…?"

"Back to the hospital. I'll fix you up." _In all the ways I can, _Owen thought sadly. _The rest isn't up to me._

Owen loathed doing this so, so much. But he knew the time had come. No matter how hard Teddy had tried – he far from denied the effort Teddy had expended already – she wasn't getting much better. And now she'd started to become a danger to herself; wasting away.

Owen was bringing her back to the psych ward.

* * *

"You should really be more careful," Callie chided, cutting away the fabric of Teddy's pants. The fact that Teddy cringed violently at her touch didn't escape her notice.

"That's what I said," Owen remarked lightly, though his expression remained intensely worried.

"I… I didn't mean to," Teddy murmured softly, eyes darting around and fingernails digging into her palms. "Ouch!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Callie apologized helplessly. "Okay, I'm pretty sure we'll have to do another repair on this knee – I need to wire a few shards of her patella together, and we'll work from there. There's a bit of infection around the wound as well. I take it she's been refusing her physical therapy sessions?"

Owen couldn't help but notice Callie was mainly addressing him. When had he become Teddy's medical counsel; her protector? All her life, Teddy had been doing fine by herself. It was like her moral authority – just the respect of someone addressing her like she was capable of being her own person – had been washed cleanly away by the indignity of being a victim.

And Teddy wasn't even protesting.

"Uh… yeah. I've brought a therapist back to the house during the day to work with her, but she isn't responding well. Not that she hasn't been trying," Owen tacked on defensively. "She's probably not ready yet."

Owen was doing it too, and the hypocrisy was strong there. How could he blame Callie if the next words out of his mouth were delivered exactly as if Teddy wasn't there?

"If you'll just sign these, we can take you to pre-op right away…" Callie mumbled absentmindedly, still testing the motion of Teddy's knee.

"Owen?" Teddy mumbled unexpectedly. Her face held a tinge of sour green. "I'm… I'm not feeling so good. I don't think I want the surgery… I just want to go home. Please?"

Owen was taken aback. This was how Teddy chose to fend for herself? "Teds… you know that you need this surgery. Your knee's infected."

"But there's pre-op and post-op and recovery – Owen, I can't stand it here. I don't want to be a patient."

"You have to. It won't be long, and I'll see what I can do about bring you home after surgery."

"I told you I didn't want to be a patient! I'm not weak!" The disquiet in Teddy was growing by the second.

"Hey, hey!" Callie interjected, brow set in worry and confusion. "No one's saying you're weak!"

"If you don't want Callie to be your surgeon, we can go over to Seattle Presbyterian or somewhere." Owen played to guilt card with a steel heart – surely Teddy wouldn't want to make a good friend feel bad.

"Not here; not anywhere!" Teddy's voice bordered on a sob. They didn't understand; but to Teddy, her argument made sense. Being here, being in the hospital missing a white lab coat and a scalpel in hand, she felt Frankie's presence; still demeaning her, still belittling her. Everyone would see what he did and label her as a victim. She was too obstinate for that. If only her jumbled thoughts could form words that were transparent to her derangement… Teddy made a grab for the clipboard, but Callie swiped it out of her reach. "I'm not signing off on any of those forms. I'm going home!"

Owen took a breath through his nostrils, incensed. "Torres, may I have a word? Outside, perhaps?"

To Teddy: "You'll be fine here by yourself, right?"

And even to Owen it sounded more like an order than a question, given to a lesser someone, of a lesser worth.

The door clicked shut.

"What's this about?" Callie demanded. "Also, why the hell haven't you brought her back here before now? She's obviously not okay. You didn't think of calling anybody? I would've thought that you cared more for her than that. You know as well as I do that the longer we wait, the higher the chance of this infection reaching the bone. Tick, tock."

"That's exactly it, Torres," Owen mumbled desperately. "I'm taking her to psych right after this. I don't know why she wouldn't sign off on those forms. I swear, she's been okay these past few weeks, it's just… on and off. One second, she's my Teddy like she always has been; the next… the next, she's absolutely still and then not seeing what's real and what's not and then it's like she's in that bastard's basement all over again! I didn't know what to do…"

"God, Owen…" Callie breathed. "What did that guy do to her that caused all this? I mean, I know he shot her, but she was gone for quite some time and Arizona won't tell me…"

"He raped her. Okay? He tortured her; he raped her, and caused her fear that sent her out of her mind." Owen spat angrily, running his fingers through his tousled red hair. "Now I can't even touch her without setting her off!"

Immediately, Owen felt guilt like seeping tar force its way through his veins. That wasn't his secret to tell, and he'd betrayed it in a single selfish moment – betrayed Teddy, like the many times before. "Callie –"

"Don't… don't worry about it. I'm not telling anyone." Callie held up a placating hand, but the look on her face was nothing short of horrified. "My God…"

"Please, Callie, could you just make her better and get the surgery over with?"

"Not if she doesn't sign those papers."

"I'm the Chief, and I'm ordering my attending surgeon to do this surgery. How 'bout that?"

"Owen – I can't. It's illegal; you're being unreasonable."

"I know for a fact that she had Frankie down as her medical proxy back in Houston. She never had the chance to amend it," Owen said helplessly.

"Okay… okay, what about this – you take her up to Psych, prove her unfit to make medical decisions for herself, and we'll see to it that she gets her surgery by decision of her surgeon. Me."

"You make it sound so simple," Owen mused.

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"I haven't told Teddy I'm taking her up there."

At this, Callie gave a colossal roll of her eyes, and re-entered the room. This was a fight she'd rather not partake in.

"Teddy…" Owen mumbled upon entering the room himself. He couldn't look her in the eyes, and even then he couldn't bring himself to tell the truth. "We're going, okay? To… to Radiology. And then back home."

"You didn't have to bring me here, you know. I was… I was just tired."

"Sure you were."

"No, really. I just want to go home. I promise I'll try harder, Owen."

It broke Owen's heart to hear her say that. Looking at her, feeling the tightness ever-present in the way her shoulders were set, the fighting spirit drowning in the fever of many a defeat – no one could say she hadn't tried enough.

In Callie's ear, he whispered: "Sedate her once you get to pre-op, okay? I'm going to get her signed in to Psych."

Owen didn't want to have to see the accusation written plainly in Teddy's shimmering green eyes.


	12. Mind Over Matter

**Chapter: **12\. Mind Over Matter

**Author:** KimRaverFan

**A/N: **Yay, here is an update! Finally! I'm sorry it took so long, it's completely my (KimRaverFan's) fault because I'm still working like crazy and when I'm home from the people in wheelchairs I'm exhausted! But here it is – chapter 12!

**Disclaimer: **We own nothing… Well "Dr. Karina Lock" is ours… yay…

* * *

_phr._

**mind over matter**

1\. the use of willpower to overcome physical problems.

* * *

Owen knew that committing Teddy to Psych was best for her; however, he felt so guilty that he hadn't visited her for four days, so he just called the staff up there to check in. He told himself that it was better for her if he stayed away, though the real reason was that he was scared. Scared she would be angry or even hate him. He was a mix of feelings which led him to work and not thinking of his best friend in Psych.

* * *

When Teddy had woken up she had been confused as to what was she doing here? Had she just escaped Frankie? Though that felt like some time ago… or was it? She was about to panic – what was going on here and why was she in a hospital bed? She could feel some pain in her knee, but that was no reason to be in hospital! Had Frankie put her here? She couldn't understand anything; all she knew was that she wanted to get away from there.

Someone had heard some tumult, because as Teddy was about to get out of bed with tears running down her cheeks and angst written across her face, a tall person whispered something and then everything went black.

When Teddy opened her eyes she saw a woman around forty sitting next to her, smiling friendlily to her.

"Good morning, Dr. Altman. I'm Dr. Karina Lock and I'm a psychologist specializing in PTSD. Can I call you Teddy?"

Teddy nodded. She knew what this woman's plan was and she didn't like it - all that fake sympathy and irritating professionalism. Tons of shrinks and psychologists had tried to get her to talk after… after the kidnapping. She neither would nor could talk about it. Teddy wanted to forget, or perhaps just disappear into thin air.

Dr. Lock was a woman on a mission, though, so she didn't notice or seem to care that Teddy looked frightened. So she asked her patient: "I just spoke with your friend Owen – he's really worried about you."

"Owen?" was all Teddy could say. She was hit with emotions and had no idea what they meant. But she needed him to feel safe, that much she knew.

"Yes, he told me that he is scared that you will hurt yourself. Is that right Teddy? Do you want to hurt yourself?" Karina Lock said with an irritating smile, searching Teddy's face for the answer to a million questions.

Teddy really wanted to slap that Karina Lock across her pretty face, but then something in her mind woke up from its sleep – _Owen thinks you want to hurt yourself. Owen has put you in this bed because he thinks you are a danger to yourself._

"Does Owen think I'm suicidal?" Teddy murmured, scared of the answer.

"You tell me," was Lock's response.

"I… I'm… It has crossed my mind to end my life. My mind has been a bit fuzzy after Frankie took me, but I remember that when I was at Owen's apartment, some days I just wanted to die," Teddy said, staring into nothing.

"And why did you get this feeling, Teddy?" The psychologist asked.

"That's simple – my life is over. I will never have a normal life, a normal love – or sex life. Some days, my mind is clear – like today. Other days I'm living in that basement Frankie built for me," Teddy was now looking at Karina when she was speaking – Teddy couldn't help but thinking how much she hated this "conversation" and how badly she wanted it to end.

"And why can't you live for the good days and hope that one day every day will be good?" Lock continued.

"I don't know… I guess I just can't." Teddy took some badly-needed breaths before she continued, "Look, Karina – can I call you that? I'm damaged goods and though it's a "good" day today it doesn't mean that tomorrow will be. Maybe I'll end my miseries within a month, maybe I won't, but no matter how hard you try you can't rescue me. I'm…. I'm done."

"But what about Owen?" The doctor said firmly.

Teddy didn't like where this was going. "What about him?"

"He worries about you and he cares for you. Why would you do this to him? How do you think he would feel if you committed suicide?" Karina Lock asked with a little hint of sympathy.

"Look, Dr. Karina Lock, this is none of your business and I think you should go now," Teddy stated.

Karina didn't say a word as she left the room.

Once Teddy was alone she couldn't hold the tears back, and cried and cried. She had no idea how she was feeling – which was the story of her life right then – and that made her angry. This wasn't fair! Damn, she hated her life! These were Teddy's last thoughts before she fell asleep with wet eyes and cheeks.

* * *

When she woke up she could tell that it was no longer morning, but rather late afternoon. She could sense that she wasn't alone in the room and by the windows she spotted Owen. The rational part of her brain told her that she should feel guilty about her thoughts and what she would cause her friend to feel, but the biggest part of her brain told her that he would get an easier life without her.

"Hi, Owen," Teddy whispered.

When she saw him in the eyes she knew that he knew and it didn't take him long before he was standing by her bed with a very hurt and confused look in his eyes.

He was about to say something, but she interrupted him, "Please, Owen, sit down."

"Maybe I've been blind, but I didn't think you were so troubled. I – I would have done more… I would have… I can't lose you Teddy!" Owen stopped talking and instead hid his head in his hands so Teddy wouldn't see the tears starting to form in his eyes.

"Owen, you have done everything for me and I love you for it. But, I'm still sick and some days my mind is a blur. And some days I'm like now. I don't know how to deal with it and I have had the thought of…"

"Killing yourself," Owen interrupted harshly.

"Yes…" Teddy said softly.

She continued, "My present is no present to live, my future seems like something that can't happen, my past is all I've got. Owen, I had a dream of being an amazing surgeon – that I succeeded in; I had a dream of a husband and kids – that never happened and now it definitely never will. I'm not sure I can have sex, love or be loved again and I'm too damaged to have kids – heck, I'm too _old_ to have kids. My life is over and I'm not sure I want to live a life that's non-existent. I'm right, am I not?" Teddy said with confidence to Owen who had revealed some red eyes to her.

"No, Teddy, you are not. I wouldn't make it if you weren't here… because I'm in love with you."Owen said looking down at his hands.

"That's not something you joke with, Owen! I know you…"

Owen interrupted her with a firm voice, "I have known since Texas, I think. I have been confused about how I feel, but I can't lose my best friend towards whom I have some great feelings for… so please don't commit suicide, Teddy."

* * *

**A/N from KimRaverFan: I hope it wasn't too dark for you! But please review! :)**

**A/N from SparrowBones: All similarities with my 'Dog Tags' story are pure coincidence, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter on behalf of KimRaverFan! I must say she did a better job than I did portraying this kind of storyline.**


	13. Soliloquy

**Chapter: **13\. Soliloquy

**Author: **SparrowBones

**A/N: **Sorry for the long wait! I've been super busy downloading Third Watch again. And writers' block has been the death of me. Thanks for bearing with it. Anyway, this chapter is more of the same-old, same-ole, but we promise things will get, oh, _spiced _up soon!

**Disclaimer: **We own nothing but this storyline and that bastard Frankie. All characters are the prized possessions of Shonda and we wish they weren't.

* * *

_noun_

**soliloquy**

an act of speaking one's thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers.

* * *

She didn't like being alone.

Then again, company made her cringe; a hand extended – it made her shy away; a voice raised a little too loud – it made her cower against the wall because the will and fighting spirit instilled in her since 9/11 had crumbled away.

The hospital mattress pressed hard against Teddy's hips as she rocked back and forth, arms locked around her knees and chest squeezed tight to keep it all in. Nowadays, it felt as if everything that she'd been clinging to would just spill away if she didn't restrain it. And it was so cold, appropriately so – the hands on the clock seemed stationary. This was what the wait was like, a second stretching across eternities, the silence making room for all the swirling thoughts to settle in.

She couldn't believe what he'd said. Owen had always been more than just a friend, but she'd always managed to hold her feelings in check. And after all these years and this much love, she'd finally let him go with a smile gracing her face. She had Henry; he had Cristina. They were over all of this.

Weren't they?

But hearing him say those words, and say them twice – Teddy had shrugged off a load on her shoulders she'd never even realized she bore. The lightness was intoxicating, unbearably so, and for the first time in so many months she had her break from a fictitious nightmare in the form of a fact she could cling to like a lifeline.

_He loves you._

This was the first thing anyone said that had made her feel less alone; Owen had given her a reason to stay when all else had seemed so hopeless. Her soul had been decaying, and his desperate whisper had just begun to build her back up again.

She had to tell him.

* * *

"Hi." Owen sidled into the room, hands in his scrub pockets and eyes straying from Teddy's as soon as his piercing blue ones met her flighty green.

"Hey." It was funny how all the things Teddy wanted so badly to say fled from her mind like dandelion seeds in the wind. The words stopped up her throat, and she looked down at her lap – a light blush crept up into her pale, sunken cheeks.

"How was your day?" Owen muttered, feigning normalcy.

"Long," Teddy said quietly, a small laugh bubbling up in her chest. It surprised her; it felt so welcome yet so misplaced at the same time. And just that small, habitual act she let escape her control made the fabricated lightheartedness real. She was nearly… happy.

It was too bad that she was going to go.

Hearing that laugh again made Owen's heart thaw out. It was like they'd been treading on already broken eggshells, the sharp edges opening gashes on the soles of their feet – except now, they were starting to salve their wounds. Holding Teddy's gaze and claiming it, Owen gave her the smile he always did before the years stripped their innocence away.

"Yeah, mine seemed to drag on too. I missed you," he tacked on as an errant afterthought.

"So did I. Listen, Owen…" Teddy blurted, and clammed up. She couldn't say it. It was too good to be true; too good in contrast to all the darkness she'd endured – this imbalance would set off those tipping scales and catapult her into the air from which she could only fall, fall, fall.

"Shh. You don't have to say anything. I don't need you to." Owen gave Teddy a reassuring look that would seem wholly genuine – expect for the fact that his voice broke right at the very end, betraying it all. And Teddy knew right then that it was a friend Owen needed in that moment, not a lover.

"Come sit by me," Teddy offered – a rare invitation into her otherwise exclusive shell. She patted the mattress beside her, and shuffled over to make room. As she did so, the blankets fell from around her shoulders and left her exposed to the artificial cold.

Owen's response to that seemed to be a childlike question, tentative uncertainty etched into every line of his face. But still, he heeded her. Seeing the hair dusting Teddy's arms stand on end, he reached out to warm them with his own two hands – the hurt of seeing her flinch at a touch that should've been so familiar to her was never going to go away, it seemed. But Owen was patient; he knew like no one else did that Teddy needed time, and it only took a few moments for to relax into herself again. She laid her head against the dip behind Owen's collarbone, sighing; her blonde, dark-rooted hair scratched limply at Owen's chest, smelling of fatigue and something else… something Owen would know anywhere, because the musky smell of the shampoo Teddy swore by still lingered.

Time ceased to pass them by as the silence stretched out; deafening, comfortable, companionable. The reprieve from the thoughts came only by sharing the burden, and Teddy and Owen shared it well.

_Breathe in. Breathe out. _

Teddy's heartbeat, always fast and flighty, steadied as her chest rose with Owen's - as steady as a rock battered away by storms brewing up a tempest could ever be.

_Breathe in. Breathe out. _

Teddy's voice was as strong as Owen had ever heard it when she opened her mouth to speak at last.

"Owen… I do love you. There, I said it."

The next silence took a lifetime; it took only a moment.

"I know," was the only thing Owen could say. "And you already know I love you too."

"Owen, look, I know why you think you have to say that – and I know you mean it; I do. I love that you're somebody I can be sure of, and it means more to me than you know. I know I've been scaring you recently, and I swear I'm sorry, but it's just the way things are, okay? And from where I'm standing, that part of me is not going to change. You've given me one thing worth living for, but Frankie dealt me a hundred that makes me want – _need_ – to go. I just can't stand his face, his voice in every waking thought and nightmare," Teddy pulled back, turning her face away.

Owen dragged her back to face him. "He's given you a hundred. Well, I'll give you a thousand. A thousand things worth living for. Would that be enough?"

"Easier said than done," Teddy said sadly, biting her lip.

Owen switched tack: "Why do you think I said it, huh? You're right; I did mean it. And you know me, Teddy – I'm not a selfish man. I wouldn't have said it to keep you here with me, all for myself. But honest – that I am. And I'd be lying if I said I couldn't survive it if you died. So please, Teddy –"

"Don't say that, Owen, don't!" Teddy cried, clapping her hands over her ears. If she was going to sink, she wasn't about to drag Owen down with her. She'd done that enough times.

"No. _You _don't," Owen raised his voice obstinately. "After all we've been through – 9/11, Iraq, and all of this – how can you just give up now? What would have been the point of all that fight you had in you?"

"I've – I've just had enough. I can't keep fighting; I'm too tired. I want to close my eyes and not have to see that basement and taste bile in my throat, okay? But you – you're different. You have Cristina; you have this hospital; you have a _life_. I have nothing to lose, but you do."

Owen gave a humorless laugh. "I lost Cristina a long time ago. You've been a little out of it, if you haven't noticed, Teds. Also, the hospital means nothing to me without you. And if I have a life, so do you!" Owen placed a hand against Teddy's chest, ignoring her as she cringed away. Her heartbeats were coming faster under her birdcage bones. "Feel! Your heart's still beating, just like mine; it's still beating and you're still alive. Don't tell me you don't have a life."

"You don't understand!" Teddy said tearfully. "Owen, I don't want this life. Call me ungrateful; call me selfish – it doesn't change a thing. What's a life when the good can't even make a dent in the bad? I'm worth less than some other girl you could meet in a bar someday, someplace. I'm… I'm worthless. You'll find someone else, or have Cristina again – I told you to fight for her before I left for MEDCOM, didn't I? Anyone's better than I am. You deserve more than half a person, a shadow of a girl. You deserve someone whole. Owen, I'm broken, and it's not your job to fix me; tape and glue won't be enough, not after this."

"Whose job is it to fix you then? Your own? And how do you plan to do that – by slashing your wrists or downing a bottle of pills, or god knows, jumping out that window?" Owen flung the words like daggers, hating the way Teddy's eyes shimmered with tears she was trying so hard not to let fall. "That's such bullshit, Teddy. I say I love you, and you give me this? You give me half-assed promises and empty words so that you can leave me without feeling guilty? Stop lying to yourself, Teddy – and stop lying to me. If you love me – if you really, truly love me – why won't you just try? No one is saying you have to die to make the bad go away – you came up with that all on your own."

Each word Owen hurled at her cut her deep to the bone. Teddy closed her eyes, wishing she was deaf to him, but he was too loud; too insistent.

"What do you want me to do?" Her helpless whisper was the contrast to his raised voice, deflated and tremulous. "Tell me what I can do to make it all go away, and I promise I'll try."

"Trust me. Teddy, all you have to do is trust me to help you, and trust that it'll all be okay – one day. I won't make you any promises I can't keep – but what I do promise is that I'll stick with you until the end. Is that enough?"

Teddy mulled it over, a fathomless look in her eyes that seemed a thousand miles away. Her mind began to shift grudgingly as she managed a whisper of the truth. "…maybe. Probably not, but maybe. I don't know if 'maybe' is good enough for me, though."

"Well, it has to be. I say it is. Okay?"

The last of the fight drained out of Teddy, but she was giving up in a different way; giving in, and letting someone else take the wheel. She'd been driving alone on a road with zero visibility for far too long, and the time had come to let go. And as she fell, she fell safe and sound into Owen's warm, solid arms.

"Okay."

The familiar silence settled in to stay once again, and Owen stroked Teddy's hair until not a single thought worried her at all. Her eyelashes fluttered shut as Teddy slumbered soundly for the first time since everything came crashing down. It took a minute for Owen to build up the courage, even though he knew she was asleep. But he did it at last. A kiss, not on the cheek but right on Teddy's beautiful, cracked lips – it meant more than he could ever say, and all the years he'd missed without her.

And there it was – one little piece of good like a pinprick star in the inky blackness at midnight. It was the first of the thousand good things Owen had promised Teddy as he held her in his arms.

* * *

**Not stealing from 'The Fault in Our Stars' at all. Leave a review, shoot us some constructive criticism – we're not picky. Okay? Okay.**


	14. Two's Company

**Chapter: **14\. Two's Company

**Author: **SparrowBones

**A/N: **We weren't planning on any other chapters, but this happened. KimRaverFan's been busy, as have I, but I still managed to give this story some semblance of closure.

**Disclaimer: **Nothing's changed. We still own nothing and Shonda continues to break our hearts.

* * *

_colloquial_

**two's company**

a saying suggesting that one is not alone.

* * *

He'd come to visit her every night that week, and each time she would find herself waiting to fall into his arms. Owen – he'd told her that he loved her, and his words carried on her dreams as she let herself get lulled to sleep by them. It had been so long since she'd felt the warmth a pair of open hands had to offer; so long since she was met with a life to grasp at instead of one she had hungered to forget.

These days, Teddy had taken to giving herself over to hope. That way, the misgivings held less sway over her; if she wanted for nothing and expected nothing more than a kiss on the cheek at the end of the day, she wouldn't have far to fall if she was ever let down.

But she wasn't happy – not anymore. The reserves of joy had been leached out of her very soul, as if she had unlearned the act of being happy. Forgetting what it was like to be okay was one thing, but she missed having laughter upon her lips so dearly. There was a part of her that had been missing for quite some time now, little pieces being chipped away ever since Frankie had dropped that first unkind word. He'd gotten rougher and less restrained as time went by, the tiny shards becoming chunks he'd torn away from her ravaged heart.

Teddy longed for those little pieces of her back.

* * *

It started out as a night not unlike any other. Owen hadn't gone home in days, knowing Teddy would never feel safe without him at her side. He didn't mind; far from it, he knew that all his mindless daydreams about such a life were slowly coming true, even if it was in the very worst way.

"How's my brave girl?" Owen whispered, careful not to startle Teddy; he would have, had he not known her like the back of his hand. Little noises, sudden movements – he hated seeing the hunted look on Teddy's face when she was caught unaware.

Teddy didn't say anything, but she extended a hand toward him. The hours seemed like days in this place; she craved Owen's touch like nothing else, because he was the only person she'd let touch her. Smiling, Owen took her hand and drew her in for a kiss. It had taken all this time for Teddy to say yes to him, but it warmed his heart when Teddy barely flinched when their lips touched.

"How was that?" Owen asked gently.

"It was nice," Teddy murmured hesitantly, unsure of the right words to say. How could she explain that feeling – the way his lips burned away all the numbness that nearly caused her pain, but how his breath mingling with hers nearly made bile rise in her throat at the reminder of what Frankie had done to her?

But Teddy could see the truth in Owen's eyes as she looked up, wondering if her answer would suffice. It wasn't enough. Not for her; not for him. Teddy loved him too, and she longed to be able to show it. There was vengeance rising in her, anger at Frankie and anger at fate for ever letting such things come between her and her heart. And she hated him.

Ignoring her revulsion, ignoring the way her skin crawled with disgust at herself and the claws that ran their vulgar paths, Teddy reached up and kissed Owen with passion hewn by fury and sadness. Owen could almost taste her fierceness as her skin warmed under his fingers. The undercurrent of surprise was quickly quelled as he shoved it out of his mind; in that moment, there was only Teddy, only her kisses and her love and the dying need he'd craved since those days out in the desert. All he could think was _her, _just a joy that exploded in his chest as their hearts beat as one.

That was, until he felt her tense in her arms – Teddy's flinch didn't go unnoticed by him, not by a long shot; although she'd tried to quell it, the pain had still gotten to her in spite of her efforts. And he could nearly feel her pain as he saw it crumple her face.

"God, Teddy, I'm so sorry," Owen said despairingly, rolling off her with horror in his eyes. His hands eased off her sparrow's bones as the careful gentleness set in once again. She was porcelain; he was stone.

Teddy bit her lip as she yanked back the covers to reveal her pinned leg: immobile, broken, and in all ways wasted. The loss in her fractured gaze sang true as she looked down at the coin-sized wound blighting her kneecap. It had healed to an angry pink, but the damage done by metal ground against bone and flesh and skin could not be easily repaired.

"It's okay," Teddy whispered, visibly upset. "It's not your fault."

But it was, and it always would be. Every time Owen touched her, Teddy would flinch like he'd pressed a white-hot branding iron into her skin. It killed him.

"What are we doing, Teddy?" Owen asked, torment dripping from his every word.

"I'm not going to let _him _take this away from me." Teddy voice cut like diamonds on glass.

He buried his head in his hands. "What does that mean?"

"It means that I love you, Owen, and I'm not going to let something someone did stand in the way of that." As soon as she said it, she started fumbling with the gown around her neck. This was crazy; every cell in her body screamed no, but her fighting spirit and her instinctual need to bite back rose up in her all at once. Teddy had never been known to cower until now – she was proud and she was brave; fire ran in her veins, not blood, as she yanked the fabric roughly away.

The thin shirt grazed her skin as it chafed up and over her head; Owen turned away as he saw her for the first time since the day he'd found her naked and broken in Frankie's arms. The scars Teddy bore screamed violence and pain, but they sang of a fight far from lost.

_One, two, three, four._ Those were the number of slashes crisscrossing her ribs; healing, but raw in their brutal shame. The grief for his friend only worsened as the image of such horror burned into the back of his mind forevermore.

"My God," Owen breathed.

To his surprise, he felt a familiar touch on his cheek. The tips of Teddy's slender fingers caressed the weariness of his unshaven face, erasing thought and extending an invitation. Unwillingly, Owen turned back to look at her.

He'd imagined this time and time again, but every time his eyes grazed across her bodice, those scars claimed him in his entirety. It was nearly as if he'd been dealt those wounds himself; his throat felt inflamed as he struggled to find the right words to say.

"Owen, I'm fine. Or at least, I'm better. These wounds are only superficial; they'll fade one day." Teddy's wan smile grounded Owen for a fleeting second, and he looked at her in consternation. In the end, it was Teddy who made his decision for him.

Her nimble fingers worked the string of his scrub pants – it only took one tug for them to come loose. His shirt soon pooled on the floor along with Teddy's own.

"Are you sure –" Owen started, only to be cut off by a fierce kiss. As Owen kissed her once, twice, thrice, he felt the shiver of her pain roll down his own cheek, and it was only then he realized Teddy was crying.

"I'm sure," Teddy breathed, fingers leaving trails of flame down Owen's back, his neck, his chest.

"No – wait," Owen struggled, thoughts evidently warring within him as he gave it all to the last bit of restraint he had left. "Are you ready? Look, if you're not ready, you don't have to do this. Please don't think that you have to do this."

"Owen, I _want _to. And I'd rather it be you. I'm ready; believe me." And it was only right at the end that Teddy's voice wavered at all.

"Teddy, look at me," Owen gritted his teeth, prying her hands off him in an effort to maintain a semblance of sanity. "You don't have anything to prove, okay?"

It was just a beat before the hurt boiled over. "Dammit, Owen, I hate this! Every time – every single time you touch me or hold me, I feel his skin, I _smell _him on me! Your hands are his hands and I hate that! Owen, I love you, and I want to be able to go all the way. But how can I do that when the last person who ever –" Teddy choked on the words, vile as they were on her lips. "Frankie was the last man to touch me, and it was the very worst hour of my life. Please, Owen, do this for me – I don't care if it hurts, because it can't hurt more than it does every time I see you flinch when you see me. When I come out of this, I _will_ be stronger. I am not _fragile._ I know I have nothing to prove – believe me when I say that I want this for _me._"

Teddy's pleading eyes grew wide, and the last of Owen's resolve crumbled to dust. "If I hurt you, if you want me to stop, you have to tell me. Please, Teddy. That's all I ask."

He felt Teddy's wordless assent rather than heard it; as he kissed her, slow, deep and hesitant, he could taste every tear on her lips.

* * *

**Well, that's it. I hope you liked this, and if you've got any ideas for this story to continue, feel free to raise them in a review!**


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